Intense thundershowers forecast in northern Taiwan after storm

Taipei, Aug. 25 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has forecast that northern Taiwan will get afternoon thundershowers on Sunday due to the lingering effects of Tropical Storm Bailu, which made landfall and swept through Taiwan's southern tip the previous day.

With the storm having moved away toward mainland China, rainfalls in the central, southern and eastern areas of Taiwan have been reduced, but sporadic afternoon thunderstorms are still expected in northern Taiwan on Sunday due to southerly winds, the bureau forecast, reminding people to be aware of intense rainfalls.

Taiwan proper was already out of Bailu's periphery by 11 p.m. Saturday. Bailu entered China from Fujian Province at 7 a.m. Sunday, continuing to move in a west northwesterly direction, according to the CWB data released at 8:30 a.m.

According to the CWB's data, Bailu was centered 140 kilometers west southwest of Taiwan's outlying island of Kinmen as of 8 a.m. Sunday.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 72 km per hour and gusts of up to 101 kph, moving in a west northwesterly direction at a speed of 20 kph.

Kinmen, located less than 2 kilometers away from the city of Xiamen in Fujian Province, was no longer within the storm's periphery, the weather bureau said, forecasting Bailu will be downgraded to a tropical low pressure system.

The weather bureau lifted its land warning for Taiwan at 8:30 a.m. Sunday and will cancel the sea storm warning at 11:30 p.m. if Bailu moves in the path predicted.

For Sunday, daytime temperatures will reach 33-34 degrees Celsius at the highest in the areas north of central Taiwan and the northeastern areas, with the rest of the country to expect daytime highs at 31-32 degrees, the bureau forecast.