Super-typhoon Nepartak takes aim at Taiwan

Although Tropical Storm Nepartak is forecast to remain south of Guam, it is expected to bring showers and some thunderstorms along with winds of 15 to 25 miles per hour with gusts to 30 miles per hour to the Mariana Islands today.

People in the Hualien and Taitung areas, including Orchid Island, should stay alert and take precautions against strong winds and torrential rain, Chen said.

The super typhoon originally developed on Sunday in the open waters of the Pacific, south of Guam, and has been steadily moving to the northwest – it’s now forecast to reach Taiwan by Thursday night or Friday morning local time, according to Taiwain’s Central Weather Bureau.

Since forming, Nepartak has strengthened into a category 2 typhoon, with some steady intensification expected. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 100 miles from the center of the storm.

A storm of that intensity will concern the insurance and reinsurance industry, as well as some insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers and collateralised reinsurance vehicles, as if Nepartak does make a landfall damage could be widespread.

Fortunately much of Eastern Taiwan is not heavily populated.

On July 5 at 0359 UTC (11:59 p.m. EDT) infrared data from NASA’s Aqua satellite detected strong thunderstorms completely surrounding the center (purple) of Nepartak. Flooding rain and mudslides will also threaten these areas. But the temperature is forecast to drop on Thursday and rain is expected on the weekend.

The current path that the storm sees Nepartak landfall in Taiwan then head north to China before dissipating near the Korean peninsula sometime next week. Just what southern China needs, more water.

It has begun to show the hallmarks of what’s known as an annular typhoon.

We’ll update you if this threat to Taiwan becomes clearer and more manifest. Chinese officials are hoping that Nepartak will slowdown while it crosses Taiwan.