Taiwan's weather bureau has urged residents to prepare for
Typhoon Matsa, which it said could hit the island today or
tomorrow, bringing strong winds and heavy rains and triggering
landslides.
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Matsa, the name of a fish in Laos, was 560 kilometers
east-southeast of Taiwan's southernmost tip of Oluanpi on Wednesday
morning, the bureau said.
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With a radius of 250 kilometers, it was moving northwest at 15
kilometers per hour, it said.
Residents in low-lying areas were urged to guard against floods
while those in mountainous regions were told to watch out for
mudslides.
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Matsa is expected to sweep through Fujian
or Zhejiang
after Taiwan, according to forecasters.
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In August last year, Typhoon Aere claimed 24 lives when strong
winds and downpours touched off mudslides, burying an entire
village in the mountains of northern Hsinchu County.
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(Shenzhen Daily August 4, 2005)