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Powerful typhoon gaining strength, threatens Taiwan

The cruise ship Superstar Libra is moored in Penghu yesterday after it changed its route to avoid the approaching Typhoon Krosa, bringing about 600 tourists to the island. The Central Weather Bureau issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 5:30pm yesterday. PHOTO: LIU YU-CHIN, TAIPEI TIMES

The Central Weather Bureau yesterday issued a sea warning for Typhoon Krosa, potentially the most dangerous storm of the season so far.

The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center last night predicted that the storm would intensify into a super typhoon before easing slightly and making landfall.

The eye of the storm was last night projected to make landfall around the northeastern corner of Taiwan sometime early on Sunday morning.

At 8:30pm yesterday, the typhoon was located 640km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan, and moving in a northwesterly direction at 15kph, packing sustained winds of 184kph and gusts up to 227kph.

Winds of up to 88kph have already been recorded off the coast of Wuchi Township (梧棲) in Taichung County as well as off Chipei islet (吉貝嶼), Penghu County, as the storm system approaches.

The edge of the storm was predicted to reach the east coast as early as this evening.

With a radius of 300km, Krosa was expected to bring rain and strong winds to the entire country.

"There could be a land warning as early as the small hours of tomorrow morning," bureau official Tsai Fu-dien (蔡甫甸) said.

Krosa was likely to impact on the nation's weather through the weekend, and perhaps beyond, Tsai said.
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