Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/06
By: Wang Shu-fen and Elizabeth Hsu 

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) Tropical Storm Maria has developed into a typhoon and is now packing winds of up to 162 kilometers per hour, with a good chance of strengthening, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Friday.

The storm was upgraded to a typhoon in the wee hours of Friday and was still on a north-northwesterly track, moving at a speed of 7 kph, the bureau said.

As of 8 a.m., Typhoon Maria was located about 2,340 kilometers east southeast of Eluanbi on Taiwan’s southernmost tip and was moving toward the Ryukyu island chain, which lies between Japan and Taiwan, the weather bureau said.

It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 162 kph, with gusts of up to 198 kph, according to the CWB.    [FULL  STORY]