Heavy rain advisory issued for 12 cities, counties in Taiwan

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Saturday afternoon issued a heavy rain advisory for 12 cities and counties across Taiwan due to a strengthening cloud system.

The advisory was issued at 4:20 p.m. Saturday for Yilan and Hualien as well as the mountainous areas of New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Yunlin and Chiayi.

The CWA defines heavy rain as accumulated rainfall of 80 millimeters or more within a 24-hour period or 40 mm or more in an hour.

It also cautioned residents in those areas of the possibility of lightning, strong gusts of wind as well as falling rocks and landslides in mountainous areas.

The most rain recorded nationwide on Saturday was in Taichung's Heping District, which had received 74 millimeters of rainfall as of 4:50 p.m., followed by Zhushan Township in Nantou with 72 mm of rain, while Gukeng Township in Yunlin, Fanlu Township in Chiayi and Taiwu Township in Pingtung each received 50 mm of rain.