Taiwan expands land warning for Typhoon Danas

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) expanded its land warning for Typhoon Danas on Sunday to cover 20 municipalities as the storm moved closer to Taiwan.

The CWA renewed the land warning on Sunday and expanded it from six locations Saturday night to 20 municipalities on Sunday to alert residents and businesses in those areas that the locations are expected to be within the typhoon's outer rim within 18 hours.

The administration upgraded Danas from a stropical storm to a typhoon by 11 a.m. Sunday due to its increasing strength.

The Sunday warning was imposed upon Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Hsinchu, and Chiayi cities.

For counties, the CWA issued the warning for Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung counties.

Penghu County was the only one of Taiwan's outlying islands to receive the CWA warning at press time.

The CWA also kept its sea warning for the waters off Dongsha Island, the Bashi Channel, the Taiwan Strait, and waters off the north of Taiwan.

As of 1 p.m., the eye of the typhoon was located 210 kilometers south-southwest of Penghu and moving north-northeast at 19 to 23 kilometers per hour, according to CWA data.

It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 119 kph near its center, with gusts of up to 155 kph, according to the CWA.

CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that the forecasted trajectory of Danas has the typhoon moving northward along the western part of Taiwan to pass through the Taiwan Strait.

Wu said Danas is still showing signs of getting stronger, adding that the typhoon has been forecasted to be at its strongest between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.

As for the weather, Wu said Hualien and Taitung areas will see stronger rain throughout the day, as would mountainous areas in Yilan and central Taiwan.

Pingtung and mountainous areas in Kaohsiung will also experience localized extremely heavy rain and even torrential rain, Wu said.

Localized heavy rain or extremely heavy rain is expected for Hualien, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung and also the mountainous areas of Nantou County, Wu said, adding that Yilan and the offshore Penghu and Kinmen counties, as well as Green and Orchid islands could also see localized heavy rain.

As Danas moves up north, localized heavy rain will be observed between Miaoli and Changhua in the evening, and also in the mountainous areas north of Hsinchu.

Wu added that as the typhoon moves away from Taiwan, the western half of the island on Monday will still see brief showers or thundershowers while the eastern half will observe a gradual easing of brief showers.

On the cancellation of classes and work as the typhoon is projected to affect northern Taiwan on Monday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) on Sunday said a meeting will be conducted alongside the mayors of New Taipei, Keelung, and Taoyuan before a decision is made.

A decision between the four cities will be released later on Sunday at 8 p.m., Chiang said.