The latest storm news on the morning of August 13 said that Typhoon Podul has an average intensity, with gusts of up to 191 km/h, heading towards Taitung City in the southeast of the island. The storm is strengthening and is forecast to make landfall in the area near Taitung on the afternoon of August 13.
"Shouts of devastation from the upcoming storm. Find shelter as soon as possible" - a warning message from authorities to mobile phone users in some areas of Taitung on the morning of August 13 stated. Warning residents about gusts of over 150 km/h in the coming hours as Typhoon Podul approaches the island.
Nine cities and districts announced temporary closures of offices and schools on August 13, including major southern cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan. In Taipei, where Taiwan's financial markets are concentrated, there are no fluctuations.
Authorities are also working to evacuate people whose homes were damaged by the July typhoon. The storm has recorded winds, damaged the power grid and is a rare storm that has made landfall directly on the west coast of Taiwan (China).
Before Typhoon Podul made landfall, island authorities had evacuated nearly 5,000 people.
All domestic flights have been canceled and some international flights of Taiwan's two major international airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air, have also been canceled.
After making landfall in Taiwan (China) on the afternoon of August 13, Typhoon Podul is expected to affect the west coast of the island, where it is densely populated, then head towards Fujian province, southern China this weekend.
The CWA forecasts up to 600mm of rainfall in mountainous areas south of the island over the next few days.
One-week rainfall in August in parts of southern Taiwan (China) exceeded a year's rainfall, causing widespread landslides and flooding, killing four people.
At 8:40 a.m. on August 13, the Hong Kong Meteorological Administration (China) issued a storm No. 1 warning signal to Typhoon Podul and said it would assess the need to issue a higher warning later in the day or the morning of August 14.
"With Podul making landfall in the vicinity of Quang Dong to Phuc Kien on August 14, the storm's related rain will be quite close to the coast of Quang Dong" - the bulletin stated.
Due to the influence of Typhoon Podul, the name of the typhoon means a lychee in Korean, Hong Kong (China) is expected to record heavy rain, thunderstorms and big waves.
From 6pm on August 12, the flood control center of Fujian province, eastern China, has upgraded the emergency storm warning level from level IV to level III, forecasting Typhoon Podul to make landfall. The Quang Dong provincial government also upgraded the same emergency storm warning level at 8:00 p.m. on August 12.
The latest typhoon bulletin from China's National Meteorological Center said that Typhoon Podul is intensifying, forecasting heavy rain and strong gusts of wind for Guangdong from August 13 to August 15.
The second landfall location of Typhoon Podul is expected to be in the coastal area from Tan Giang, Phuc Kien to Hue Lai, Quang Dong between the night of August 13 and the early morning of August 14.
