The storm has already injured 46 people and forced thousands of evacuations, the authorities said, warning that torrential rain could cause landslides and flooding.
The authorities shut down schools and offices across Taiwan on Wednesday and grounded all domestic flights as Typhoon Krathon barreled toward the island, bringing torrential rain and strong winds. Thousands of people have been evacuated, and 46 have been injured, officials said.
The storm approached Taiwan as a super typhoon on Tuesday, with wind speeds of over 150 miles per hour, before weakening as it neared the island’s southwestern coast, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration. It had maximum wind speeds of about 115 miles per hour early Wednesday, equivalent to those of a Category 3 Atlantic hurricane.
Krathon is expected to continue decreasing in intensity as it makes landfall on Thursday near Kaohsiung, a major port city home to 2.7 million people, the agency said on Wednesday morning.
Intense rainfall could lead to flooding in Kaohsiung and parts of eastern Taiwan, officials said. The main mountain range that run along Taiwan’s eastern coast also faced the risk of landslides, they said.
City and county governments on the island announced that school and work would be suspended on Wednesday, and the national aviation agency said that all domestic flights would be grounded for the day.
The Kaohsiung government has evacuated over 2,000 people from the city’s outskirts because of the risk of landslides, the city government said on social media on Tuesday night.
The storm has already brought strong winds and torrential rain to the island. The heaviest rain has fallen in the mountainous southeast, including in Taitung County, which has received nearly 30 inches of rain since Tuesday. An additional 20 inches or more could fall there within a 24-hour period.
By Wednesday morning, the storm had already downed trees and damaged some buildings. Forty-six people, a majority of them in Taitung, had been injured, according to the National Fire Agency, the authority in charge of emergency operations. It did not provide details about the nature of the injuries. One person was missing, believed to have fallen into the ocean, the agency said.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news. More about Yan Zhuang
John Liu covers China and technology for The Times, focusing primarily on the interplay between politics and technology supply chains. He is based in Seoul. More about John Liu
