TAIPEI: A strong Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall on Thursday (Oct 31) on Taiwan’s east coat with all cities and counties declaring a day off, financial markets closed and hundreds of flights cancelled for what is expected to be the largest storm by size in 30 years.
The storm hit the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast between Taitung and Hualien counties, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, with strong winds and torrential rain affecting almost all the island.
At one point a super typhoon, Kong-rey slightly weakened overnight but remained powerful as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane packing gusts of more than 250kph, according to Tropical Storm Risk.
Taiwan’s weather administration labelled the storm a “strong typhoon”, the most powerful storm level for Taiwan, adding it would be the biggest typhoon in size to hit the island since 1996.
“I hope that everyone in the country will co-operate in avoiding disaster and refraining from engaging in dangerous behaviour such as wave watching during the typhoon,” President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.
Administration forecaster Gene Huang said after hitting the east coast it would head towards the Taiwan Strait as a much weakened storm and urged people across the island to stay at home due to the danger of high winds.
“The size of the storm is very large and the winds are high,” he said.
Environmental officials were working on Thursday to prevent oil leaking from a Chinese cargo ship beached against rocks on Taiwan’s northern coast after losing power in turbulent weather.
