KAOHSIUNG – Typhoon Krathon made landfall Thursday in Taiwan's major port city of Kaohsiung, bringing torrential rains and fierce winds to the island's south. Trees were brought down by high winds and roads flooded, prompting the closure of schools and businesses.
Krathon made landfall in the industrial Siaogang District of Kaohsiung around 12:40 p.m., the Central Weather Administration said. The typhoon packed maximum sustained winds of 126 kph (78 mph) near its center, with gusts of 162 kph (101 mph).
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The typhoon is forecast to move slowly north and weaken into a tropical depression by Friday before it reaches the capital, Taipei. It appears to be heading across the Taiwan Strait toward the Chinese coast. Winds were strong in Taipei on Thursday, but there was little rain.
Kaohsiung earlier urged its residents to take cover from potentially disastrous winds and rain, which tore down storefronts and flooded car parks but caused no reported loss of life.
The slow-moving typhoon, which has been inching toward Taiwan at a speed of about 4 kph (2.5 mph), doused eastern and southern parts of the island over the past five days, forcing thousands to evacuate from mountainous or low-lying areas. Two days of closures are believed to have taken a significant toll on the high-tech economy that relies heavily on foreign trade.
Gusts and heavy rains pelted the empty streets in Kaohsiung, while life in Taipei, 350 kilometers (217 miles) to the north was only slightly disrupted.
Many residents woke up Thursday to mobile phone alerts urging them to take shelter from the potentially dangerous winds. The weather administration posted a Facebook message warning Kaohsiung and Pingtung County residents to not go outside when the eye of the storm passes above their area and the weather calms briefly, because the winds and storms will pick up again afterward.
Weather-related events attributed to Krathon injured at least 123 people around the island, according to Taiwan’s fire department. Two people died — one after driving into fallen rocks on the road in the southeastern Taitung county, and the other while trimming tree branches in the city of Hualien. Two others remained missing.
A fire at a hospital in Pingtung County killed at least nine people early Thursday. The deaths were attributed to smoke and the cause was under investigation. It was not immediately clear whether the blaze was related to the typhoon.
Thousands were evacuated from areas vulnerable to mudslides and landslides. Almost 40,000 troops were on standby to help with rescue efforts.
Mountainous areas in the island’s south have seen up to 169 centimeters (5.5 feet) of rain over the past five days.
China's weather agency said some eastern and southern parts of Taiwan are set to see extremely heavy rains of up to 40 centimeters (1.3 feet) over the next 24 hours.
Typhoons rarely hit Taiwan’s west coast, affecting instead the mountainous, eastern side of the island.
Kaohsiung officials, in urging residents to be vigilant about the weather, recalled the destruction brought by Typhoon Thelma, which in 1977 devastated the city and caused 37 deaths.
Earlier in the week, Typhoon Krathon lashed northern Philippine islands, where four people were killed and at least 5,000 were displaced, officials said.