Taiwan evacuated thousands of tourists from outlying islands Monday and set up nearly 100 shelters across the island as it braced for its third typhoon in two weeks.

Manila Bulletin
Date: September 26, 2016
By: Agence France-Presse

The east coast is still reeling from damage caused by Super Typhoon Meranti earlier this month — the

strongest storm for 21 years to hit Taiwan — followed by Typhoon Malakas.

The same part of the island is in the firing line again from approaching Typhoon Megi, which is already bringing strong winds and waves.

It is due to make landfall on the east coast on Tuesday and forecast to bring almost a metre of rain to some areas over three days.

Ferries to Taiwan’s Green Island and Orchid Island were halted Monday after more than 3,700 visitors were evacuated over the weekend.

A 700-ton crane was blown over Monday at a harbour in the eastern area of Hualien. It crushed a nearby building but no one was injured.

More than 35,000 soldiers are on standby to help with disaster relief and 92 shelters are open for residents.

At 0715 GMT Megi was 530 kilometres (329 miles) east-southeast of Hualien, packing gusts of up to 191 kilometres (119 miles) per hour.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/26
By: Wang Shu-fen and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Rain is expected across all areas of Taiwan on

Monday as Typhoon Megi takes aim at the island, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.

In parts of northern Taiwan and the northeastern county of Yilan, intermittent rain had already started in the morning and heavier rainfall can be expected in the afternoon, the bureau said.

Rain will also begin in the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung as well as in mountainous areas of central and southern Taiwan later in the day, according to the CWB.

As of 8 a.m. Monday, Megi was centered 670 kilometers east-southeast of Hualien, moving at 21 kilometers per hour in a west-northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, the bureau’s data showed.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/25
By: Wang Shu-fen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau will attempt to track an approaching typhoon

on Monday, the day before the storm is forecast to sweep through the island, the bureau said Sunday.

It will undertake a six-hour observation mission starting at 5 a.m. when an aircraft takes off from Taichung Airport to drop radiosondes with parachutes into the peripheral winds of Typhoon Megi and along its projected course, the bureau said.

The mission will be the 76th time Taiwan has carried out a typhoon observation project with parachuted radiosondes. The project, named “Dropwindsonde Observation for Typhoon Surveillance near the Taiwan Region (DOTSTAR),” is also known as “Wind Chasing.”

According to the weather bureau, the mission will be performed by an Astra jet airplane, which will fly up to an altitude of 13,000 meters before releasing the parachute radiosondes.     [FULL  STORY]

STORM CHASER:An aircraft will climb to an altitude of about 13km and conduct observations to better predict the typhoon’s path, the Central Weather Bureau said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The Central Weather Bureau was scheduled to issue a sea alert for Typhoon Megi as of press time last night, as the storm gained power on its way toward eastern and southern Taiwan.

By 8pm yesterday, the center of the typhoon was 920km east-southeast of Taiwan proper, moving west-northwest at 16kph, packing winds up to 137kph.
The radius of the storm was 200km, the bureau said.

The sea alert was scheduled to issued at 11:30pm last night. Because of the approaching typhoon, the Maritime and Port Bureau said that several shipping route services would be canceled today, tomorrow and Wednesday.

A majority of the canceled shipping services are in eastern and southern Taiwan, including those between Taitung’s Fugang Fishing Port and Green Island (綠島); between Houbi Lake (後壁湖) in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼); and between Donggang (東港) in Pintung County and Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球).     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Sea warnings could be issued Sunday evening at the earliest as Tropical

Storm Megi turned into a typhoon and made its way toward Southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said Saturday.
The storm was likely to envelop all of the island on Tuesday while making landfall in Taitung County, some forecasters said.

Megi, the Korean word for catfish, only just originated in the Pacific near Guam, but weather experts already predict it will turn into one of the three fiercest typhoons of the year.

Just earlier this month, Typhoon Meranti passed close to Southern Taiwan, lashing Taitung, Pingtung, Kaohsiung, Penghu and Kinmen without even making landfall. Only three days later, Typhoon Malakas moved up north along the east coast.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/24
By: Wang Shu-fen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) The chances that a sea warning will be issued for Typhoon Megi on Sunday are high, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Saturday.

The CWB said Megi, which was upgraded from a tropical storm to a typhoon on Saturday afternoon, is moving steadily toward Taiwan, and a sea warning could very well be issued for the storm on Sunday night.

The bureau had previously said that a sea warning for Megi, the 17th storm of the typhoon season to form in the Pacific, would be issued Monday at the earliest.

A land warning is now likely to be issued on Monday, the bureau said, and it warned the public to take precautions.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 24, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

Minor Typhoon Megi is expected to hit Taiwan next Tuesday, Sept. 27, by which time it may have

strengthened to a moderate typhoon, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

Currently located approximately 2,000 kilometers east to Cape Eluanbi in Hengchun Township, Taiwan’s southernmost tip, Megi is moving in a west-northwesterly direction at 21 kilometers per hour (kph).

With a radius of 100 kilometers, the minor typhoon is sustaining winds of 64.8 kph with gusts of up to 90 kph, as of 2 p.m. on Friday.

The weather bureau announced late Friday that it was set to issue a sea warning on Monday and possibly earlier if Typhoon Megi continued to strengthen.

Weather forecaster Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said Typhoon Megi was a “fat” typhoon and that therefore, the bureau could not rule out the possibility of it strengthening into a moderate typhoon.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/21
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau said Wednesday that a tropical storm has formed

over waters close to Guam, and is likely to develop into a typhoon this weekend.

If so, it will be the 17th typhoon to form in the Pacific this year, and will be named Megi, the bureau said.

The weather bureau observed that the tropical storm formed to the east of Guam at 8 a.m. Wednesday. The storm was 3,500 kilometers from Taiwan as of press time.

The storm will not affect Taiwan’s weather this week, the bureau forecast.

Forecaster Hsu Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said the storm could possibly develop into a typhoon on Friday or Saturday, and then move in a northwesterly direction along the southern edge of a Pacific high air pressure system.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 19, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Premier Lin Chuan expressed his dissatisfaction at state owned utility companies’

inability to fully restore access days after Typhoon Meranti swept through Southern Taiwan.

As of Sunday, large numbers of households in areas such as Pingtung County were still without access to water or power.

“There are still around 10,000 households in Pingtung County without electricity,” Lin said.

While power is expected to return to most households by Sunday night, Lin said several townships still required a temporary electrical line to provide power.

During inspections of the nationwide disaster effort at the Central Disaster Emergency Center in New Taipei City, Lin expressed his fury at the slow progress made by Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) and Taiwan Water Corporation (TWC.)

“There will be a review regarding post-disaster restoration efforts and coordination,” Lin said, adding that he would demand answers from senior executives at Taipower and TWC.

While current disaster relief efforts have reduced the number of households left without power, Lin said more work remains to be done.     [FULL  STORY]