Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.
As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph.
The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed.
After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said.
With the storm moving closer to the nation than previously forecast, the CWA said it could issue a sea warning for Kong-Rey this afternoon or evening, followed by a potential land warning tomorrow morning.
The last typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November was Typhoon Gilda in 1967, although other typhoons have previously formed in the month over the years and affected Taiwan’s weather, the agency said.
CWA forecasts show that Kong-Rey would affect Taiwan most severely from Thursday through Saturday, when the storm would bring strong winds and rain to much of the country, including possible heavy or extremely heavy rain in the north, east and southeast.
As of press time last night, the agency’s Web site showed there was an 80 percent chance that Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), off Taiwan’s southeast coast, would be within Kong-Rey’s outer rim on Thursday night.
Ferry services between Taitung County and Green Island (綠島) off Taiwan’s southeastern coast were suspended yesterday, and those between Taitung and Orchid Island would be suspended starting today.
The two islands were already experiencing stronger winds and higher waves associated with the approaching storm, prompting the suspensions until Thursday and the early evacuation of travelers visiting the islands.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm named Trami at 2am yesterday, and is projected to move west-northwest toward waters east of Luzon Island, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Trami’s center was 700km east of Manila, or 1,180km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving in a northwesterly direction. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 65kph, with gusts of up to 90kph, CWA data showed. The weather agency forecast the center of the storm would be over waters 470km east-northeast of Manila or 820km southeast of Oluanpi at 8am today, and urged ships
BIGGEST TROUBLEMAKER: China should not be carrying out any such exercises given the threat to regional peace and stability, Premier Cho Jung-tai said yesterday The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that live-fire Chinese drills in a province facing Taiwan are part of routine annual drills, but also possibly part of China’s “deterrence effect” in the waters of the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration, in a notice late on Monday, said an area around Niushan Island in China’s Fujian Province would be closed off for four hours from 9am yesterday for live-fire drills. Niushan sits just south of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands. The ministry in a statement said that the exercises are part of routine Chinese training and it was keeping a close watch, but
‘NO POSITION ON TAIWAN’: ‘I welcome the European Parliament’s focus on this issue and this important debate,’ European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit said on Tuesday The European Parliament yesterday passed a resolution stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not have any bearing on Taiwan’s participation in the UN or other international organizations, and rejected as unacceptable any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait. The motion passed by 432 votes in favor and 60 against with 71 abstentions during a plenary vote. The resolution condemned China’s continued military provocations against Taiwan, including drills around the nation on Monday last week. “Any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, particularly by means of force or coercion, will not be accepted and will
STOCKPILE: Once three new natural gas terminals are built, the nation could store up to 14 days of liquefied natural gas in the event of a blockade, an official said A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be an act of war and have far-reaching consequences for international trade, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, after drills by China last week practiced such a scenario. Beijing has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around Taiwan, including war games that have practiced blockades and attacks on ports. China’s latest war games named “Joint Sword-2024B” were carried out on Monday last week, which Beijing said included simulating blockading ports and areas, and assaulting maritime and ground targets. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a legislative