Taiwan battens down before ‘Kong-rey’ landfall

YILAN (AFP) — Five-meter waves pounded Taiwan’s shores Wednesday as super typhoon “Kong-rey” drew near, with forecasters expecting the storm to strengthen before hitting the island as one of the most powerful in years.

Kong-rey’s winds were already sustaining maximum speeds of 240 kilometers per hour (kph) as it approached Taiwan, the United States Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest update.

But that was expected to accelerate to 250 kph before the storm makes landfall in the lightly populated southeast on Thursday.

More than a meter of rain could fall in the hardest-hit areas by Friday as the seasonal monsoon also drenches the island of 23 million people, prompting warnings of landslides and evacuations in vulnerable areas.

“Kong-rey” was currently more powerful than the deadly typhoon “Gaemi,” which was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years when it made landfall in July.

“If (Kong-rey) keeps the current wind speed, it will be the biggest typhoon in eight years,” Chang Chun-yao from the state weather forecaster, Central Weather Administration, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Classes and work were suspended on the two main islands of Taitung county, where the typhoon looks set to make a direct hit, while dozens of ferry services and domestic flights were canceled on Wednesday.

Taipei residents planning to hunker down during the storm stocked up on fresh vegetables, while fishers wearing slickers against the rain tethered their boats in the harbor in Yilan county, southeast of the capital.

“Of course I’m worried. All my assets are here,” a fisherman, who gave his name as Captain Chen, told AFP.

“Kong-rey” was expected to dump the heaviest rain on Taiwan’s eastern and northern coastal areas, and over the mountains in the central and southern regions, the Central Weather Administration said.