Extremely torrential rain advisories issued for parts of Taiwan

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Extremely torrential rain or heavy rain advisories were issued in several cities and counties in Taiwan on Thursday as a result of Typhoon Gaemi, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

An extremely torrential rain advisory was issued in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung cities, as well as the counties of Miaoli, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung and Taitung. This means the 24-hour accumulated rainfall will exceed 500 millimeters.

A torrential rain alert, which means the 24-hour accumulated rainfall is expected to exceed 350 millimeters or the 3-hour accumulated rainfall will top 200 millimeters, was issued for Chiayi City and the mountainous areas of Hsinchu County.

Warnings of extremely heavy rain or heavy rain have also been issued in other parts of the country, including the cities of Keelung and Greater Taipei, as well as the outlying counties of Penghu and Lienchiang.

The CWA defines extremely heavy rain as accumulated rainfall of more than 200 millimeters in a day or more than 100 millimeters in a 3-hour period. Heavy rain means accumulated rainfall of 80 millimeters or more within 24 hours.

All rain advisories will be in place until the evening.

Typhoon Gaemi has weakened and is expected to continue to do so as it shifts away from Taiwan, the CWA said.

It predicted the country would be completely out of the circle of the storm between Thursday night and early Friday morning.

Currently, the eye of the typhoon, which left Taiwan proper at around 4:20 a.m. on Thursday, is about 80 kilometers north-northwest of Hsinchu in northern Taiwan, and moving at 10 to 14 kilometers per hour (kph) in a west-northwesterly direction toward China.

Pingtung County, in the southern part of the country, is already out of the storm circle, the CWA said. It warned, however, that rain will persist.

The administration said national alert messages have been sent to residents in Pingtung and Kaohsiung to warn them of likely severe thunderstorms.

According to CWA forecaster Liu Yu-chi (劉宇其), Gaemi is expected to make landfall in the Chinese province of Fujian later on Thursday. At that time, Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties will be most affected.

The land warning for the typhoon could be lifted by noon on Friday when Lienchang County will be out of the storm circle, Liu said.

Temperature-wise, the weather administration said highs of 28-30 degrees Celsius were expected island-wide on Thursday, with lows ranging between 25 and 28 degrees.