Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon.
As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point.
It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed.
Photo: Screen grab from the Central Weather Administration’s Web site
Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said.
The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, Wu said.
Southern Taiwan would be more heavily affected by the storm if the northward turn takes place later than forecast, she said.
Krathon was still expanding and is expected to further strengthen after being upgraded to a typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said.
Wu said a land warning could be issued between late last night and early today, and the storm’s periphery would likely reach Taiwan this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Central Emergency Operation Center urged people to avoid visits to the seaside and mountainous areas.
City and county governments need to prepare for potential floods and restrict or ban access to mountains and coastal areas, which would be enforced by the police and the Coast Guard Administration, the center said.
Kaohsiung’s Water Resources Bureau said that its 25 detention basins, which can hold a combined 4.98 million cubic meters of stormwater, have been emptied.
The city was hit hard by floods in late July due to heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Gaemi.
The center was opened in response to Krathon after the CWA issued a sea warning for ships operating in the Bashi Channel at 8:30am yesterday, as the storm was forecast to move toward waters off southern Taiwan in the following 24 hours.
Restricted areas in Yushan National Park and Shei-Pa National Park have been closed due to the sea warning, and entry permits issued for dates before the reopening would be invalid, the parks said.
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency announced the closure of ticketed national forest recreation areas in several counties until Wednesday.
Ferry services between Keelung and Matsu, Tainan and Dongji Islet (東吉嶼), and ports in Taitung, Pingtung, Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) were suspended yesterday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said.
Ferry operators in Pingtung also announced the cancelation of services to and from Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) tomorrow and Wednesday, when Taiwan is forecast to be most affected by the storm.
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS