Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north.
The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph.
Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration
It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said.
At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between midday and the afternoon.
The eye of the storm would likely pull away from Taiwan's west coast overnight, followed by its outer rim tomorrow morning, Chu said.
The CWA has forecast extremely heavy rain for eastern and northern Taiwan today, meaning that rainfall totals could exceed 200mm in a 24-hour period or 100mm in three hours.
Mountainous areas in Yilan and Hualien counties in the east could see even higher rainfall levels, Chu said.
In terms of wind, Chu said gusts of up to level 17 on the Beaufort scale (above 200kph) have already been measured on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), off Taiwan's southeast coast.
As the storm passes over Taiwan, wind speeds are forecast to reach level 14 (149kph to 165kph) in Taitung and Penghu counties, and level 11 (103kph to 117kph) in Hualien, Yilan and Lienchiang counties, as well as areas from New Taipei City to Kaohsiung, Chu said.
Meanwhile, level 9 to 10 wind speeds (75kph to 102kph) are expected in Keelung, Taipei, Nantou County, Chiayi City and Kinmen County, Chu said.
Orchid Island recorded a sustained wind speed of 215.64kph, the CWA said today.
The CWA later this morning said it is not the highest record though the strong wind broke the station’s measuring device.
It is not updating the figure as the weather station on the island is experiencing unstable power supply due to the typhoon, said CWA.
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