BANGKOK, Thailand – Taiwanese authorities are rushing to evacuate people from areas in the path of Typhoon Podul, which is expected to make landfall in the southeast on Wednesday. Thailand is monitoring the situation but anticipates no impact.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau reported that Typhoon Podul, named by North Korea after a type of willow tree, has gusts reaching up to 155 kilometers per hour. The storm is moving toward Taitung city in southeastern Taiwan, intensifying as it approaches, with landfall expected around noon on Wednesday, August 13 local time. It is forecasted to then move across the densely populated western coast of Taiwan before heading toward Fujian province in southeastern China later this week.
Heavy rainfall up to 600 millimeters is predicted in mountainous southern Taiwan over the coming days, following a week of rain since July 28 that exceeded the region’s annual average, causing five deaths and triggering floods and landslides in central and southern Taiwan.
Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction reported nearly 700 residents in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, will be evacuated due to risks of flooding caused by natural dams formed from previous typhoon-triggered landslides. Authorities are also accelerating evacuations of those displaced by Typhoon Danas, which struck Taiwan’s western coast earlier in July with record-breaking winds. (TNA)
