Heavy rain advisory issued across 10 cities and counties in Taiwan

Taipei, June 2 (CNA) With a weather front bringing moisture to all of Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heavy rain advisories for 10 cities and counties south of Miaoli County on Sunday.

According to the agency, a passing weather front which brings with it mid and small sized low-pressure systems, will make the weather unstable all across Taiwan on Sunday.

The CWA said that the entire country could experience sporadic rain or thunder showers, with the western and northeastern areas having the highest chance of seeing such weather patterns.

Rain will gradually get heavier during the day, with the whole country likely to experience heavy and even extremely heavy rain.

Specifically, the CWA issued heavy rain advisories for Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City as well as Chiayi, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties.

Update: The Central Weather Administration revised its heavy rain advisories at 3:10 p.m. to cover more areas in northern and eastern Taiwan.

The CWA warned residents of the 10 locations of possible heavy rain, lightning and strong winds.

The CWA also cautioned that some areas could be battered by gales measuring 8 to 9 on the Beaufort scale, including open areas on the coastal locations north of Yunlin County, as well as the Hengchun Peninsula in the south, Green Island, Orchid Island, and the island groups of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.

According to CWA data, Penghu County's Dong Ji Islet had already accumulated over 70 millimeters of rain by 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

In response to the rain, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said it has set up a response team to manage possible high levels of precipitation across Taiwan.

The WRA also said that reservoirs around Taiwan have benefitted from the amount of rain accumulated in Taiwan over the past few days, which means they have enough water for irrigation of farmland and use by household and industrial consumers this season.

On the heavy rain advisory, the WRA advised members of the public refrain from entering high-risk areas such as mountains, rivers and seaside.

As for the temperature, the CWA said the rain and increasing intensity of northeasterly winds will cool northern, northeastern, and eastern Taiwan, bringing highs down to 28-29 degrees Celsius in those areas, while other regions will see highs of 31-33 degrees.