YILAN, Taiwan: Taiwan suspended work and classes on some outlying islands and fishers secured their boats on Wednesday (Oct 30) as authorities warned approaching Super Typhoon Kong-rey could trigger landslides.
Strong winds and heavy rains were expected to pound swathes of the island of 23 million people ahead of Kong-rey making landfall in the southeast on Thursday afternoon.
Kong-rey was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 240kmh as it neared Taiwan, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest update.
Fishers wearing raincoats tied down their boats in the harbour of Yilan county, southeast of Taipei, as rain fell.
“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 over Taiwan’s eastern and northern coastal areas and the mountains in central and southern regions, said state forecaster the Central Weather Administration.
Yilan and the eastern county of Hualien were expected to be hardest hit, with accumulated rainfall from Tuesday to Friday reaching 800ml to 1,200ml, forecaster Chang Chun-yao told AFP.
“Based on the projected path of the typhoon, we advise Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung to take precautions against potential landslides and debris flows in areas expected to receive heavy rainfall,” Chang said.
