Typhoon Krathon weakening, but slow pace to extend its impact: CWA

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) Typhoon Krathon has weakened and is continuing to move slowly toward southwest Taiwan, increasing the possibility that the storm's impact will last into the coming days, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, the eye of the typhoon was located 160 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung, and was moving to the north-northeast at 7 kilometers per hour.

With a radius of 220 km, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 173 kph, with gusts of up to 209 kph -- down from the speeds of 198 kph and 245 kph measured on Tuesday night, the CWA said.

By 8 a.m. Thursday, Krathon is expected to have just made landfall, with the storm's eye located around 40 km to the north-northwest of Kaohsiung, CWA forecasts showed.

According to the forecasts, the center of the storm will still be located over central Taiwan on Friday morning and over northern Taiwan on Saturday morning.

At a press briefing Wednesday morning, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said the slow-moving storm had weakened slightly overnight, and would likely continue to degrade, becoming a weak typhoon or even tropical storm as it approaches land.

A typhoon is defined as having sustained winds speeds of at least 118 kph, while a tropical storm has winds speeds ranging from 63-117 kph.

Although Krathon will weaken further as it moves across Taiwan, it will still bring strong winds and bands of heavy rain, Wu said.

On Wednesday, the CWA issued an extremely torrential rain advisory for mountainous areas in Pingtung and Taitung counties, warning of rainfall totals of 500 millimeters or above over the next 24 hours.

A torrential rain advisory was also issued for Pingtung County and mountainous areas in Hualien, which could see over 350 mm of rain in a 24-hour period, or over 200 mm in 3 hours.

Meanwhile, an extremely heavy rain advisory has been issued for Chiayi County, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Yilan and Penghu, while a heavy rain advisory was in effect for Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Yunlin and Chiayi City.

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.