Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/15
By: Chen Wei-ting and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Sept. 15 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau said it will issue a sea warning for Typhoon

Malakas late Thursday, as the storm was moving closer to Taiwan.

As of 2:00 p.m., Malakas was located 900 kilometers southeast of Taiwan, moving west northwest at a speed of 22 kilometers per hour, the bureau said.

On its current path, the storm is expected to affect northern and eastern parts of Taiwan on Saturday, the CWB said, adding that it will issue a sea warning late Thursday and land warning around noon on Friday.

Central Taiwan may also see heavy rain from Malakas, the 16th typhoon of the season, the weather bureau said.

With a radius of 120 km, the typhoon was carrying maximum sustained winds of 126 km per hour and gusts of up to 162 km per hour, the CWB said.     [SOURCE]

POWER LOSSES:Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Meng-an said it might take time to restore power as more than 300 utility poles were downed in the storm

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 16, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday morning inspected the Central Emergency Operation Center

in Taipei before traveling to storm-ravaged Pingtung County, a day after Typhoon Meranti devastated southern Taiwan, leaving one person dead and 51 injured.

After being briefed about the aftermath of the storm, Tsai thanked military personnel and government workers at the center for evacuating residents to safety, assisting in cleanup operations and helping restore water and power supplies.

She warned the public not to let their guard down as another storm, Typhoon Malakas, could affect the nation in the coming days.

In Pingtung, Tsai met with residents of Jiadong Township (佳冬), which was flooded with waist-deep water, as military personnel delivered food and other supplies to residents stranded in three of the township’s villages.

Jiadong residents appealed for help restoring power and solving the flood problem, and Tsai told them that water pumps were being sent from Kaohsiung.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 16, 2016
By: John Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen paid a visit to the most severely flooded areas of Pingtung on

Thursday and pledged later that the government would strive to quickly restore normalcy to affected citizens.

Typhoon Meranti dumped about 800 millimeters of rainfall in a day, turning roads into small rivers.

As flooding reaching waist level in some areas, the military dispatched inflatable boats to deliver canned food, instant noodles and other supplies to stranded households.

In Pingtung, more than 600 people remain stranded in the three villages of Jiadon Township, where streets were flooded and power was offline.

Speaking with the president, a woman said her hometown flooded every year.

After meeting with the locals, Tsai asked that more plumbers be sent to the flooded regions and that Taiwan Power Company speed up repairs on the power grid.

While draining floodwaters is a relatively simple matter, restoring power poses a challenge, particularly because more than 300 utility poles had been uprooted by strong winds in Pingtung.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/14
By: Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Tropical Storm Malakas has strengthened into a typhoon and is expected to

come closest to Taiwan on Saturday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Wednesday.

As of 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the storm was located 1,380 kilometers southeast of Taiwan’s southernmost point of Eluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan at 22 kilometers per hour, the bureau said.

The typhoon was carrying maximum sustained winds of 126 kph, with gusts of up to 162 kph, according to CWB data.

A sea warning for Malakas could be issued late Thursday or Friday, and it could affect northern and eastern Taiwan when it comes closest to the country on Saturday, the bureau said.

Malakas is expected to then move northward toward Japan, it said.     [SOURCE]

NOT OVER YET:Hengchun Township had winds that reached Level 16 in the Beaufort Scale, a new record. Another typhoon could move near Taiwan on Saturday

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 15, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Strong winds and torrential rainfall yesterday pummeled southern and eastern Taiwan, injuring nine

people and leaving more than 550,000 households without power.

Data from the Central Emergency Operation Center showed that three people were hurt in Taitung County, one in Hualien County, three in Tainan and two in Kinmen. Five were injured as they rode motorcycles or traveled in cars.

Taiwan Power Co (台電) statistics showed that 702,946 households lost power, the majority in Pingtung County. However, power had been restored to about 130,000 homes by about 3:40pm, it said.

By 8:30pm yesterday, the center of Meranti was 70km southwest of Penghu and it had become a weaker typhoon, the Central Weather Bureau said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 15, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As Typhoon Meranti roared through southern Taiwan, Typhoon Malakas veered

toward the northeast coast.

Forecasts suggest Malakas will make landfall by Saturday.

More than 500,000 households suffered power cuts Wednesday, with Pingtung County and Orchid Island the worst affected, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.

State-owned electricity supplier Taipower said the company was making emergency repairs around the nation.

As of 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, almost 20,000 households were still without access to water, with the Taiwan Water Corporation saying it had managed to restore the water supply to 50 households by the evening, but admitted more work remained to be done.

While several people were reported injured in Hualien, Taitung, and Kinmen County, no fatalities from the extreme weather had so far been reported.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 14, 2016
By Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Residents are bracing for a stormy Mid-Autumn Festival as Strong Typhoon Meranti

heads toward Taiwan.

With a radius of 200 kilometers, Meranti had sustained winds of 208.8 kph with gusts of up to 262.8 kph, as of 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

It is moving in a west-northwest direction at 21 kph.

The Central Weather Bureau issued a sea warning for the Bashi Channel and waters off the east coast on Monday evening.

A land warning was issued on Tuesday 8:30 a.m. for Taitung County, (including Orchid Island and Green Island,) Hengchun Peninsula, Pingtung County, Hualien County, Kaohsiung City, Tainan City, Nantou County, and Chiayi County.

People in these areas are advised to prepare for torrential rainfall, which can produce flash floods and mudslides. But the entire island will feel the storm’s wrath, forecasters said.     [FULL  STORY]

NO DIRECT HIT?The bureau said that based on the storm’s projected path, it is not expected to make landfall in Taiwan, but it will bring lots of rain

Taipedi Times
Date: Sep 13, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The Central Weather Bureau was scheduled to issue a sea alert late last night for Typhoon Meranti, which is threatening southern Taiwan, and it could not rule out the possibility of issuing a land alert this morning.

Meranti picked up strength at about 2pm yesterday, when its center was 1,000km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving northwest toward the coast of the Hengchun Peninsula at 22kph, the bureau said.

With a radius of 200km, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of about 183.6kph and gusts of up to 226.8kph, bureau data show.

The typhoon’s circumfluence could affect the weather in Taiwan today, with chances of showers being high in eastern, northern and southern regions as well as the mountainous area in the center of the nation, forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/12
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Monday that it has upgraded

Tropical Storm Meranti to a strong typhoon, and could issue a sea warning for the storm for the Bashi Channel and waters off southeastern Taiwan at 11:30 p.m.

As of 2 p.m., the storm was centered 1,000 kilometers east-southeast of Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour in a west-northwesterly direction, the bureau said.

With a radius of 200 km, the storm was packing maximum sustained wind of about 183.6 kph, with gusts of up to 226.8 kph, bureau data shows.

The projected path of Meranti shows that its center might skirt Eluanbi before heading to China, and could be at its closest to Taiwan Wednesday, according to the bureau.     [SOURCE]