Taiwan issues warnings as Typhoon Sepat nears

TAIPEI, Aug 16 (Reuters) Taiwan issued land and sea warnings today, the Central Weather Bureau said, with heavy rains lashing the island as Typhoon Sepat approached.

As of 1930 hrs, the typhoon was 600 km southeast of Taiwan and moving at 20 kph in a northwest direction with sustained winds of 191 kph and gusts up to 234 kph, the bureau said.

Earlier in the day when Taiwan issued the sea warning, it also told local fishermen to return to port as the storm gathered strength and moved towards its coast.

Sepat is expected to reach southern Taiwan on Saturday morning as a category 4 typhoon, according to the British-based Web site Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com).

In Manila and the northern Philippines, residents had braced for more flooding and possible landslides today as the typhoon gathered strength northeast of the archipelago en route to Taiwan.

The tropical cyclone, which has intensified into a category 5 super typhoon, brought the Philippine capital to a near standstill on Wednesday as it exacerbated monsoon rains, causing flooding chest-deep in places.

Major roads outside Manila remained flooded today with water up to 5 feet deep in places, and officials in the neighbouring province of Rizal had ordered the evacuation of around 100 people after a landslide.

Tropical storms in the region gather intensity from the warm ocean waters and frequently develop into typhoons that hit Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and southern China during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.

REUTERS SBC PM2228