Taiwan shuttered its schools and offices, evacuated thousands of people, grounded hundreds of flights and mobilized the military as Typhoon Kong-rey neared on Thursday with unusually powerful strength.
Kong-rey was expected to make landfall on Thursday afternoon as one of the most powerful storms to hit the island in 30 years, according to the island’s Central Weather Administration. It had winds of up to 127 miles per hour on Thursday morning, equivalent to those of a Category 3 hurricane.
More than 8,600 people had been evacuated in nine cities and counties on the island as of Thursday morning, according to Taiwan’s Interior Ministry.
The entire island was under land and sea warnings on Thursday afternoon, meaning that sustained winds of at least 39 m.p.h. were predicted to hit or come close to Taiwan within a few hours. Advisories for extremely heavy rain and other extreme weather stretched across the island, and nearly four feet of rain was forecast to fall in some mountainous areas.
“My plans are in chaos,” said Huang Shu-ting, 45, as she put a bag of frozen chicken nuggets into a basket at a supermarket in Taipei on Thursday.
Ms. Huang said she had canceled a planned trip to southern Taiwan, to visit her ailing father, because it no longer felt safe to travel.
“Fortunately Taiwanese people are very experienced in facing typhoons,” Ms. Huang added as she stood in front of a food shelf that was more than 80 percent full. “I’m not worried too much, the storm will pass soon.”
The storm’s impacts were also being felt in China, where meteorologists said that the storm could make landfall on Friday.
Several train routes in China’s eastern Yangtze River Delta region on Thursday and Friday because of the storm Kong-rey, the country’s Railway Department said. More than 4,000 people had also been deployed to prepare for rescue efforts across several southern provinces, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Kong-rey was heading for Taiwan after skirting the northern Philippines, which was battered by Tropical Storm Trami last week. The Philippine government said on Wednesday that the two storms combined had killed at least 139 people and left at least 21 others missing.
As the typhoon traverses Taiwan, the mountains that run through the middle of the island are expected to weaken the storm, leaving the island’s eastern side to receive most of the rainfall.
But even after passing through Taiwan, Kong-rey is likely to remain a typhoon as it emerges over the Taiwan Strait and heads toward southern Japan and China, where it could make landfall again on Friday.
Kong-rey had already caused multiple disruptions to daily life in Taiwan as it approached.
As of early Thursday afternoon, more than 500 domestic and international flights in Taiwan had been canceled, according to the Transport Ministry. Some ferry services were suspended in southeastern Taiwan, and fishing boats were called to shore. The government also banned hikers from entering mountainous areas.
In the eastern coastal city of Hualien, which was hit by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in April, the authorities prepared supplies and vehicles to help evacuate people.
In Yilan, a northeastern county, strong winds and rain had arrived by early Wednesday. At Suao Port in Yilan, which is usually crowded with military and civilian ships, a few vessels were docked at the harbor.
On social media, Taiwanese people expressed concern that such a powerful storm was arriving at the start of winter. Though typhoons happen all year, most storms in the western Pacific form from May to October.
Many fans of Mayday, a popular Taiwanese pop band, were dismayed after it canceled its concerts that had been scheduled for Friday and the weekend.
Kong-rey was spinning toward eastern Taiwan with a large eye. Forecasters with the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center cautioned that as the storm approaches the coast, it could become erratic, with changes in its forward speed and direction, and may weaken slightly before it makes landfall.
Regardless of any weakening, Kong-rey will be a powerful storm as it nears Taiwan.
“Typhoon Kong-rey — a climatological freak,” an experienced typhoon chaser, James Reynolds, posted on social media. “Its track towards Taiwan and potential landfall intensity will make it a once in a generation (if not longer) storm.”
According to Brian McNoldy, a researcher at the University of Miami, the latest typhoon equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane or stronger to hit Taiwan directly was Krosa on Oct. 6, 2007, which cut power to nearly half a million homes and disrupted air and sea traffic as it came ashore.
In China, the Meteorological Administration said multiple provinces and cities in the southeast, including Shanghai, the country’s financial hub, will brace for heavy rains and winds on Friday through the weekend.
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