Typhoon Krathon to make landfall late Wednesday night at earliest: CWA

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) Typhoon Krathon is expected to make landfall in southern Taiwan as early as late Wednesday night, and although the storm has continued to weaken it could still have an impact across Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said Typhoon Krathon would make landfall in Chiayi, Tainan or Kaohsiung from late Wednesday night to Thursday morning.

The storm, which weakened slightly overnight, will continue to weaken as it moves across Taiwan, Wu said, adding the CWA will withdraw its sea and land warnings for Krathon once it is downgraded to a tropical depression.

As of 2 p.m., the eye of the typhoon was located 120 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung and moving in a north-northeasterly direction at 9 kilometers per hour, a slight acceleration of 2 kilometers per hour since the morning, according to the CWA.

The outer rim of the storm has enveloped Taitung and areas as far west as Yunlin, while the outer bands could bring heavy rain and winds to northern areas, up to Miaoli in the west and Hualien in the east, as well as the outlying archipelago of Penghu, CWA data showed.

Wu warned of sustained rain in Hualien and Taitung and intensified rain south of Taiwan, but noted that the rainfall would shift to the north as Krathon slowly moves northward.

In the meantime, the typhoon continues to bring strong winds to central and southern Taiwan, as well as coastal areas, she said, adding that these conditions are also expanding to other parts of the country.

A typhoon is defined as having sustained wind speeds of at least 118 kph, while a tropical storm has wind speeds ranging from 62-117 kph, and a tropical depression has winds below 62 kph.

For more details on the current weather in Taiwan, please visit the Central Weather Administration website. 

Update

Oct. 2: Offices, schools to close again on Thursday due to typhoon