The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow.
A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City.
For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site.
As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
It was moving west-northwest at 13kph, with maximum sustained winds of up to 137kph and gusts reaching 173kph.
CWA forecaster Lin Ping-yu (林秉煜) said Fung-wong has slightly strengthened in the past three hours and is expected to pose a threat to waters near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), the Bashi Channel and the southern Taiwan Strait, with a possible further increase in intensity.
The typhoon, combined with the effects of northeasterly winds, is expected to bring increasingly heavy rain tonight and tomorrow to the Keelung north coast, greater Taipei, eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島).
Extremely heavy to torrential rainfall is expected in mountainous areas of greater Taipei and eastern Taiwan, and the CWA is likely to issue a land warning tomorrow morning, Lin said.
Fung-wong is forecast to approach and pass over Taiwan on Wednesday.
Central and southern Taiwan, Hualien, Taitung and Penghu may see scattered showers with the possibility of heavy or torrential rain, Lin added.
Northern Taiwan, Yilan and outlying islands including Kinmen and Lienchiang counties are expected to experience brief showers.
Even after the typhoon moves away on Thursday, northern Taiwan may still see significant rainfall, Lin said.
During the typhoon, strong gusts may occur in open coastal areas and offshore islands, with waves exceeding 3m along the coast, Lin said.
Waves could reach up to 6m in southern Taiwan, the Hengchun Peninsula, southeastern regions and Penghu County, Lin added.
As the typhoon approaches, the Kinmen Harbor Bureau announced today that ferry services between Kinmen and the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou would be suspended in both directions tomorrow.
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