Tropical Storm Fung-Wong makes landfall in Pingtung

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Tropical Storm Fung-Wong made landfall in Pingtung's Hengchun Township at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, and dissipated into a tropical depression shortly after, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

As of 8 p.m., the storm had made landfall and was 10 kilometers north-northwest of Cape Eluabi, Taiwan's southernmost point, and had already weakened into a tropical depression.

It was packing sustained winds of 54 kilometers per hour near its center -- down from 64.8 kph just ahead of landfall -- and gusts of up to 83 kph, the CWA said.

With the wind speeds dropping below the 63 kph needed to meet the definition of a tropical storm, the CWA lifted its typhoon warning with effect from 8:30 p.m.

The remnants of the storm are moving east at a brisk 31 kph and are expected to pull back out to see overnight, CWA forecasts showed.

(Source: CWA)

CWA forecaster Lin Ping-yu (林秉煜) said the storm's outer bands could bring localized extremely heavy rain to Keelung's north coast, Greater Taipei, Hualien and Taitung in the east, and Pingtung in the south during the overnight hours.

On Thursday, a strengthening northeasterly wind system will bring rain to northern Taiwan, while the weather will gradually turn more stable in the center, south and east of the country, Lin said.

In light of the improved conditions, Taiwan High Speed Rail announced that it would resume normally scheduled train services nationwide Thursday.

As of 8:45 p.m., all cities and counties had confirmed that schools and offices will be open as usual Thursday, or had yet to announce, with the exception of certain hard-hit neighborhoods or villages in Hualien.