Taiwan evacuates thousands ahead of Typhoon Krathon

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) Thousands of people in Taiwan were subject to mandatory evacuations Tuesday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Krathon, which is forecast to bring torrential rain and strong winds to the south of the island.

Hualien County government evacuated more than 3,000 people in 13 townships vulnerable to landslides, including 1,302 residents in Xiulin Township, according to data compiled by the Hualien disaster response center.

In addition, 196 people were evacuated from their homes in Tainan, while evacuations have been ordered for 828 people in the southernmost county of Pingtung.

In addition, the Heren-Chongde section of Suhua Highway was temporarily closed to traffic at 6 p.m. Tuesday as a precaution, while Provincial Highway 8, a section of Provincial Highway 23 also called Futung Highway, a section of Hualien County Road 64, as well as Changliang access road and Gaoliao Bridge in Hualien's Yuli Township were also closed.

Express train services on the North-Link Line of Taiwan Railway Corp. between Su'aoxin and Hualien and between Hualien and Taitung have also been suspended.

The precautionary measures were adopted after President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) gave directions during an inspection of the Central Emergency Operation Center in Taipei to provide full assistance to local governments in disaster prevention and response work.

"Disaster prevention takes precedence over disaster relief," Lai emphasized while holding video conferences with local government leaders in Hualien, Taitung, Pingtung and Kaohsiung.

As the approaching Krathon had already brought accumulative rainfall of 250 millimeters to mountainous areas along the Southern Cross-Island Highway over the past 24 hours as of 1 p.m. Tuesday, the Highway Bureau predicts accumulative rainfall on the highway could reach 900mm. It called on critically ill patients or those living in nearby areas vulnerable to landslides to evacuate their homes as soon as possible.

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Krathon was located 190 kilometers to the southwest of Kaohsiung and moving in north-northeasterly direction at a speed of 6 to 10 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 data indicated.