Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/14
By: Tyson Lu, Wang Shwu-fen, Huang Kuo-fang and Evelyn Kao
Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Strong Typhoon Meranti hurtled towards southern Taiwan Wednesday, bringing
heavy rain and strong wind, and knocking out power for more than 500,000 households.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Meranti was 60 kilometers west-northwest of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, packing gusts of up to 227 kilometers an hour, the strongest ever recorded by the Hengchun detection station since it was set up in 1896, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).
The radius of Meranti, the strongest typhoon to make landfall on Taiwan in 21 years, covered Hengchun in Pingtung County, areas south of Yunlin and Nantou and areas south of Hualien, bringing strong wind and dumping heavy rain on these areas.
Between 1 a.m. Tuesday and 3 p.m. Wednesday, rainfall totaled 707 millimeters in West Dawu (西大武山) in Pingtung, 436mm in Tienhsiang (天祥) in Hualien, 369mm Shangli (上里) in Taitung and 304mm in Taiping Mountain (太平山) in Yilan, according to the CWB data. [FULL STORY]