The Central Weather Bureau yesterday issued a sea warning for the newly formed Tropical Storm Nesat, which was approaching the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines.
The cyclone was upgraded from a tropical depression to a tropical storm at 2pm. As of 8pm, Nesat was 410km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) on the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving west-northwest at 18kph, the bureau said.
The storm had a radius of 120km and maximum sustained winds of 72kph, it said.
The bureau forecast that its periphery would bring extremely heavy or torrential rain to mountainous areas in Taipei from yesterday afternoon through this morning.
Heavy or extremely heavy rain was forecast for Yilan County, mountainous areas in New Taipei City, Keelung and Taiwan’s northern coast, as well as a chance of heavy rain in other areas north of Hsinchu, Taichung and the mountainous areas of Hualien.
The bureau defines heavy rain as accumulated rainfall of 80mm or more within a 24-hour period or 40mm or more in an hour. Extremely heavy rain refers to accumulated rainfall of 200mm or more within 24 hours. Torrential rain refers to accumulated rainfall of more than 350mm within 24 hours or more than 200mm over three hours.
The bureau warned of high waves in the coastal areas of Taiwan and its outlying counties.
Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), Green Island (綠島), and Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, as well as coastal and open areas in western Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), could experience wind speeds of 76kph to 104kph, it said.
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