Super Typhoon Kong-rey is approaching Taiwan from the southeast and is expected to make landfall on Thursday. Officials warn the rare late-season storm will bring dangerous amounts of rain across the entire country, particularly to mountainous areas in the east, a region prone to landslides.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Taiwan is bracing for super typhoon Kong Rui. It's set to be the largest storm to hit the
00:05country in years. Rick Glauert has been following the typhoon's progress from Taitung on Taiwan's
00:11east coast, where it's expected to make landfall. Rick, how's it looking over there?
00:16Well, not much wind rain yet, not much wind here yet in southern Taiwan. But the wind
00:25and the waves here are picking up. And this is just the very outer edge of typhoon Kong
00:31Rui. The center is still some 500 kilometers off this coast. Officials here warning that
00:38this is going to become a very dangerous storm. Winds at the center already reaching up to
00:44300 kilometers an hour. And it's expected to grow in both size and strength as it heads
00:50towards Taiwan. In terms of the forecast, it's going to be moving towards this part
00:55of the coast on Wednesday, with the eye hitting making landfall in Taitung on Thursday. Over
01:05Thursday night, it will pass over Taiwan's central mountain range, weakening as it leaves
01:10the island into the into the strait on Friday. Taiwan is already warning that there will
01:16be about one meter of rain in areas. And there's a warning of the likelihood of risk
01:22of flooding and landslides. At the coast, you can expect waves of up to 10 meters. Taiwan
01:30has put 36,000 troops on standby to help with rescue and recovery efforts. Now, in this
01:36area of Taiwan, agriculture is very important. And we've been talking to people worried about
01:41the typhoons potential devastating impact on their crops. Well, Taiwan is no stranger
01:57to typhoons. In fact, this is the third of this summer. But this is an exceptional storm
02:03both in its strength and size and also in its timing. It's very rare for a typhoon to
02:08come this late in the year. This typhoon taking many people in this part of the country
02:13slightly off guard.