Land warning issued for Typhoon Gaemi

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued a land warning for parts of Taiwan ahead of Typhoon Gaemi's arrival as the latter continues on its path toward waters east of the island.

The land warning was issued at 11:30 a.m. for New Taipei and Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties in eastern Taiwan, meaning that those areas are expected to be within the storm's outer rim within 18 hours.

As of the time of the warning, the typhoon was located 470 kilometers southeast of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost point, and moving north-northwest at a speed of 22 kilometers per hour.

It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 144 kph and gusts of 180 kph.

Based on CWA data, Gaemi intensified slightly in strength and size over the past three hours.

According to the CWA, a land warning is issued 18 hours before a typhoon's radius of sustained winds of 34 knots (63 kph) is expected to hit the island of Taiwan or the outlying Penghu, Kinmen or Matsu islands.

The CWA is currently projecting the storm's periphery to hit eastern Taiwan early Wednesday morning, and still believes the eye of the typhoon is most likely to make landfall in Yilan County in the early hours of Thursday morning.

It was not ruling out the possibility, however, that Gaemi could make landfall further south through Hualien County.

Even before then, the storm could bring intermittent rain to the northern, northeastern and eastern parts of Taiwan on Tuesday, CWA forecaster Liu Yu-chi (劉宇其) said.

Cloudy skies are forecast for the rest of the island, although brief showers or heavy rain could occur in some areas in the afternoon, Liu said.

Rain and wind were expected to intensify Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, he said, noting that heavy or torrential rainfall is expected in eastern parts of Taiwan as well as the northeast and mountainous areas.

The CWA was expected to release an update on the typhoon and its land warning every few hours Tuesday and Wednesday as Gaemi approached Taiwan.