By The Straits Times | Created at 2024-10-30 00:57:43 | Updated at 2024-10-30 03:29:16
3 hours ago
Updated
Oct 30, 2024, 08:10 AM
Published
Oct 30, 2024, 08:10 AM
TAIPEI - Taiwan issued a land warning on Oct 30 ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Kong-rey, which will bring driving rain and strong winds across a swathe of the island.
Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall as a strong Category 4 typhoon on the morning of Oct 31 on Taiwan’s sparsely populated and mountainous east coast in the county of Taitung.
It is then expected to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head towards China, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration said.
On Oct 29, the authorities in south-eastern Taiwan suspended some ferries and advised fishermen to return to shore as Kong-rey, packing maximum wind speeds of 155kmh, approached, reported AFP.
“It is now intensifying rapidly,” Mr Lin Po-tung of the Central Weather Administration told a news conference.
He warned waves could reach 5m or 6m high on Oct 30, with heavy rain also forecast in the capital Taipei.
Disaster officials in Taitung county, which looks set to bear the brunt of Kong-rey based on the storm’s current trajectory, advised fishermen to return to shore and secure their boats, while ferry services to outlying islands were suspended.
“The main impact on Taitung will be damage caused by strong winds,” the local fire agency said.
Further north in the coastal city of Hualien, which was hit by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in April, the authorities prepared supplies for the vulnerable, as well as vehicles ready to evacuate people.
In a bid to avoid a repeat of the flooding, there have been “increased efforts on clearing sediment from rivers and in more areas”, said Mr Wang Yi-fung, a spokesman for the Water Resources Agency, under the Economic Ministry.
Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, but scientists have warned that climate change is increasing their intensity, leading to heavy rain, flash floods and strong gusts.
In July, Gaemi became the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in eight years, killing at least 10 people, injuring hundreds and triggering widespread flooding in the southern seaport city of Kaohsiung.
That was followed in early October by Krathon, which killed at least four people and injured hundreds, as well as triggering mudslides, flooding and record-strong gusts. REUTERS, AFP
