Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey
The Peninsula
Yilan, Taiwan: Five metre waves pounded Taiwan s shores Wednesday as Super Typhoon Kong rey drew near, with forecasters expecting the storm to hit the...
Yilan, Taiwan: Five-metre waves pounded Taiwan's shores Wednesday as Super Typhoon Kong-rey drew near, with forecasters expecting the storm to hit the island as one of the most powerful in years.
Kong-rey's winds were sustaining maximum speeds of more than 230 kilometres (143 miles) per hour as it approached Taiwan, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said, slightly slower than an earlier reading.
The storm was expected to unleash "destructive" winds when it made landfall in the lightly populated southeast on Thursday, the state weather forecaster, Central Weather Administration, said.
More than a metre 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 of thousands of people from their homes 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.
