Mountainous regions in Taiwan's northeastern Yilan County and easter Hualien County should be braced for heavy rainfall in the next three days, the Central Weather Bureau warned Oct. 18.
The northeastern coast could be hit by more than 1,000 millimeters of rainfall due to the combined effect of strong seasonal winds to the northeast and Typhoon Megi to the southeast, meteorologists said.
Megi, which is being called the strongest typhoon in the northwestern Pacific in the last 20 years, made landfall on the Philippines’ northernmost island of Luzon in the afternoon of Oct. 18.
The CWB’s Gulu observation station near the rural township of Datong in Yilan County had recorded more than 500 mm of rainfall for the day as of 9 p.m., while the nearby Nioudou station had registered the second largest amount at 257.5 mm.
The typhoon stirred up massive waves measuring between 7 and 8 meters off the coast of the southeastern county of Taitung and caused powerful category 14 winds on Orchid Island, located to the southeast of Taiwan proper.
CWB meteorologist Lin Ding-yi said although Typhoon Megi was not likely to strike Taiwan directly, the interaction between the northeast monsoon and the circumfluence of the super typhoon would bring continued torrential rains to northern and eastern parts of the island.
The weather bureau forecast that the typhoon’s center would depart Luzon Island in the early morning of Oct. 19 and move into the South China Sea to the west. (SB)