Residents in central and southern Taiwan should beware of extremely heavy rain brought by Tropical Storm Lupit, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday, despite lifting a sea warning for the storm.
Bureau forecaster Lo Ya-yin (羅雅尹) said that Lupit remained a tropical storm after making landfall in China’s Guangdong Province at noon yesterday.
As of 5:30pm, its center was 120km northwest of Kinmen County, she said.
Photo: CNA
Its radius had shrunk to 60km as it traveled northeast at 6kph, she added.
Lo forecast that Lupit would affect China’s Fujian Province before crossing back into the East China Sea on the weekend.
The bureau would continue to closely monitor the storm to determine whether it would affect the weather in Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of Animal Rescue Team Taiwan
“Should the storm weaken significantly while moving over land, it would likely have little effect on the weather in Taiwan proper. However, should it regain strength when it returns to moving over the ocean, it could significantly affect the weather on the west coast,” she said.
Although Lupit might be downgraded to a tropical depression, it might still cause large waves in the Taiwan Strait, Bashi Channel and the Pacific off Taiwan’s southeast coast, Lo said.
Strong winds are expected in central and southern Taiwan, as well as in the offshore counties of Kinmen, Lienchiang and Penghu, she said.
From 12am to 7pm, the bureau’s observation station in Pingtung County’s Chunrih Township (春日) measured 237.56mm of accumulated rainfall, the highest in the nation over that period. The second-highest accumulated rainfall was measured in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), with 236.5mm.
Although the bureau forecast that rains in the north and east would ease today, showers would continue in central and southern Taiwan due to southwesterly winds, Lo said, adding that short bursts of extremely heavy rain might cause flooding.
Meanwhile, six ferry routes between Taiwan proper and outlying islands would be suspended today due to the storm, including those between Keelung and Matsu, Kaohsiung and Penghu, and Taitung and the Green Island (綠島), the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday.
Separately, the Council of Agriculture said that agricultural losses due to typhoon damage so far this year exceed NT$113 million (US$4.07 million), with farmers in central and southern Taiwan incurring the majority of losses.
Farmers in Yunlin County posted the most losses, totaling NT$41 million, followed by Tainan with losses of NT$22 million and Chaiyi County with NT$20 million, council data showed.
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