The Central Weather Bureau yesterday issued a land alert for Typhoon Doksuri, saying it posed a threat to residents in Taitung and Pingtung counties.
As of 7:15pm, the typhoon’s center was 400km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving northwest at 11kph. The maximum sustained wind speed reached 173kph, with the storm’s radius topping 300km.
A sea alert, which was issued on Monday, applies to vessels operating near the southeast coast of Taiwan proper, the Bashi Channel, Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙島) and south of the Taiwan Strait, while the land alert applies to Taitung, Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), said Lo Ya-yin (羅雅尹), a senior specialist at the bureau’s weather forecast center.
Philippine authorities yesterday evacuated hundreds of people in coastal communities as the typhoon intensified, pummeling the north with strong winds and heavy rains before it heads toward Taiwan and China.
Temperatures across Taiwan yesterday remained high at 35oC to 38oC. However, the storm’s outer band has brought rainfall to the nation’s south and east, as well as mountainous areas in southern Taiwan.
Today, chances of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall would be high on the east coast as the typhoon approaches Taiwan, Lo said, adding that cloudy to sunny skies are forecast for the west coast during the day.
Photo: CNA
Rainfall in southern Taiwan is expected to gradually increase from tonight to tomorrow morning, she said.
Wind speed on the Beaufort scale could today reach levels 10 to 11 on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島); levels 9 to 10 in Kinmen County and the Hengchun Peninsula; levels 8 to 9 in Taitung and Lienchiang counties; and levels 7 to 9 in Taoyuan and New Taipei City, she said.
The heaviest rainfall is forecast to occur in Hualien and Taitung counties, with accumulated rainfall likely to reach 700mm to 1,000mm in the mountainous areas in the next four days.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The bureau yesterday also detected 4m-high waves off the coasts of Lanyu, Green Island and Taitung, she said, adding that the waves could reach 6m today.
Doksuri is expected to enter the Bashi Channel today, move north along the southwest coast tomorrow before making landfall in China’s Fujian Province on Friday, Lo said.
Residents in the eastern and southern regions, as well as Penghu and Kinmen counties, should brace for rain and strong winds, but the typhoon is likely to have a smaller impact on those living in northern and central Taiwan, which is on the leeward side of the storm, she said.
“We will continue to monitor the typhoon’s path as it could move slightly north while passing near the southeast coast of Taiwan,” she said.
At press time last night, no cities or counties had declared a typhoon day.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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