Typhoon Krathon strengthening as it approaches southwest Taiwan

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) Typhoon Krathon was continuing to strengthen as of Tuesday morning and had begun to move northward on a path toward southwest Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Krathon was located 220 kilometers to the south-southwest of Kaohsiung, and was moving north at a speed of 4 kilometers per hour, CWA data showed.

With a radius of 220 km, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 198 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 245 kph, the CWA said.

By 8 a.m. Wednesday, the storm is expected to be just 60 km to the south-southwest of Kaohsiung and to make landfall in southwestern Taiwan later that day, CWA forecasts showed.

As of Tuesday morning, the typhoon's outer rim had already begun to cover parts of Pingtung and Taitung counties and the city of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, according to the weather agency.

At a press briefing Tuesday morning, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said Krathon had remained almost stationary overnight, and would begin to move slowly northward in the afternoon.

Because of its slow speed, the storm will likely affect Taiwan from Tuesday through Thursday, with the most severe weather forecast for Wednesday, Wu said.

On Tuesday, the CWA issued a torrential rain advisory for the Hengchun Peninsula and mountainous areas in the south, warning of up to 350 millimeters of rain in 24 hours, or 200 mm in 3 hours.

An extremely heavy rain advisory was also issued for Hualien and Taitung counties and mountainous areas of Kaohsiung and Pingtung, while a heavy rain advisory was in effect for the coast of Keelung, the mountains of Taipei, New Taipei City, Yilan, Tainan, and parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung.

The CWA defines extremely heavy rain as more than 200 mm of rainfall in 24 hours, or 100 mm in 3 hours, while heavy rain is defined as at least 80 mm of rainfall in 24 hours, or 40 mm in 3 hours.

Temperatures are expected to reach highs of above 30 degrees Celsius across much of Taiwan Tuesday, with highs of up to 36 degrees possible in Hsinchu, Miaoli and Taichung, the CWA said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture said it had issued warnings for debris flows for 480 locations in Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung and Hualien.

Under the "yellow alerts" issued for those locations, local governments must urge residents in the areas where a mudslide risk is forecast to evacuate, the ministry said.