Heavy rain advisories issued for most of Taiwan

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Wednesday issued heavy rain advisories for much of Taiwan, effective through late in the afternoon.

Extremely heavy rain advisories were issued for Taitung County, the Hengchun Peninsula at Taiwan's southern tip, and mountainous areas of Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.

The warning indicates the possibility of more than 200 millimeters of rainfall within 24 hours or more than 100 mm within three hours.

Heavy rain advisories were issued for Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Hsinchu City, Chiayi City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Nantou County and Yunlin County, Chiayi County, as well as mountainous areas of Hualien County.

These advisories warn of accumulated rainfall exceeding 80 mm within 24 hours or 40 mm within one hour.

As a weather front moves southward Wednesday and Thursday, heavy rain is expected to persist in southern and eastern Taiwan, while other parts of the country may see intermittent showers, the CWA said.

Another weather front expected to arrive Friday and remain through the weekend is expected to bring localized heavy rain and intense downpours to eastern Taiwan and mountainous areas around the island, with localized showers and thunderstorms possible elsewhere, the CWA forecast.

Temperatures in northern Taiwan are expected to range from 22 to 30 degrees Celsius through the rest of the week, while central and southern Taiwan will see temperatures between 23 and 30 degrees, according to CWA data.

The highest accumulated rainfall in Taiwan for all of Tuesday and the first 10 hours of Wednesday -- when the weather front was expected to have its biggest impact on Taiwan -- was 390.0 mm in Kaohsiung's Liugui District, according to CWA data.

That was followed by 367 mm in Taichung's Heping District and 366.5 mm in Alishan Township in Chiayi County.

For Wednesday only, the 11 weather stations with the highest rainfall readings, topped by a reading of 156 mm in Pingtung County's Shizi Township, were all in southern Taiwan, with eight of the 11 in Pingtung County, CWA data showed.