Typhoon Bavi Expected to Clear Taiwan by Late Saturday Night

Taipei: Taiwan will be outside the storm radius of Typhoon Bavi by late Saturday night or early Sunday morning after it reached the island's northeastern tip at around 1 a.m. Saturday, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). CWA forecaster Lin Po-dong stated that Bavi continued to move northwest after its radius, defined by sustained winds of 50-61 kilometers per hour, impacted Taiwan. The storm's eye is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Saturday afternoon to evening.

According to Focus Taiwan, the storm's strongest impact on Taiwan will be felt from Saturday morning to afternoon. As of 7 a.m. Saturday, the center of the typhoon was located about 330 kilometers east of Taipei, moving northwest at 27 km per hour, as reported by the CWA. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 144 kph near its center, with gusts reaching 180 kph. Lin mentioned that although Bavi's storm radius shrank to 350 km from 380 km on Friday, it could still bring heavy rain and strong winds to Taiwan, with heavy rain in the Greater Taipei area likely on Saturday afternoon as Bavi's eye moves closer.

The CWA has issued torrential or extreme torrential rain advisories for all of New Taipei, Shilin and Beitou districts in Taipei, all of Taoyuan City and Hsinchu County, and mountainous parts of Miaoli, Yilan, Nantou, and Chiayi counties and Taichung. An extreme torrential rain alert means rain exceeds 500 millimeters in 24 hours, while a torrential rain advisory indicates rainfall surpasses 350mm in 24 hours or 200mm in three hours. Extreme heavy rain alerts, indicating rain exceeding 200mm in 24 hours or 100mm in three hours, have been issued for Keelung City, most of Taipei, Hsinchu City, coastal Miaoli County, the northern half of Yilan County, and mountainous parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.

Lin said areas north of Tainan and eastern Taiwan are facing winds of 63-87 kph, and the CWA has issued strong wind advisories for northern Taiwan, Yilan, and the Hengchun Peninsula, warning of wind speeds of 76-117 kph. As of 9:10 a.m., the largest amount of rainfall recorded around Taiwan on Saturday was 247.5mm in Yilan County's Datong Township, followed by 221mm in Hsinchu County's Jianshi Township and 209.5mm in Taoyuan's Fuxing District, CWA data indicated. All of these are mountainous areas, and CWA rain distribution maps for both Saturday and Friday and Saturday combined showed that the biggest accumulations of rainfall have occurred in Taiwan's northern mountains.