Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today.
Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said.
The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said.
Photo courtesy of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction
Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said.
The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of rainfall in a single day during that storm on July 31, 1996, he added.
Typhoon Doksuri in July last year also had an RMW larger than 300km, but it did not make direct landfall on Taiwan proper, instead skirting to the south before making landfall in China’s Fujian Province, Chang said.
By 3pm today, land warnings had been issued for all municipalities except for Taipei, Keelung, Kinmen County and Lienchiang County, although the entire nation is expected to be under the warning area by the evening.
Taitung County has canceled classes and work from 6pm today, as well as Datong (大同) and Nanao (南澳) townships and two villages in Suao Township (蘇澳) in Yilan County.
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