People in central and southern Taiwan should stay alert for heavy rain today, with the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issuing advisories for 10 cities and counties in the regions.
According to the CWA's latest update at 8:55am, torrential rain is likely in the mountainous areas of Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, while extremely heavy rain may affect low-lying areas of Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Tainan, as well as mountainous regions of Chiayi and Taitung counties.
Heavy rain is also forecast for Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi County, Chiayi City and low-lying areas of Taitung.
Photo: Taipei Times
The CWA defines torrential rain as 350mm or more of accumulated rainfall in 24 hours, or more than 200mm in three hours.
Extremely heavy rain refers to more than 200mm in a day or more than 100mm in three hours, while heavy rain is defined as over 80mm in a day or 40mm in an hour.
As of 9:40am, the Xinmajia station in Majia Township (瑪家), Pingtung County, had recorded the highest rainfall in the country, with 290mm of precipitation.
All of the top five rainfall stations were located in Pingtung.
Due to recent heavy rainfall, the CWA has warned of possible landslides, falling rocks and flash floods in mountainous areas, along with flooding in low-lying regions.
The agency attributed the rainfall to southwesterly winds, which can bring short but intense downpours to central and southern Taiwan.
These winds also contribute to swells along the coasts of Keelung, southern and eastern Taiwan — including Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島).
In addition, regional thunderstorms are likely in the greater Taipei area, southeastern Taiwan and offshore areas including Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, the CWA said.
Despite the rain, temperatures are expected to stay above 25°C throughout the day, with highs reaching 35°C in Taipei and New Taipei City, according to the CWA Web site.
Independent meteorologist Wu Der-rong (吳德榮) said the ongoing heavy rainfall, driven by the southwesterly seasonal winds, is expected to continue through Monday.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS