Taiwan issues land warning for Typhoon Kong-rey

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Wednesday issued a land warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm continues on its path toward waters southeast of Taiwan.

The land warning was issued at 5:30 a.m. for Taitung County in eastern Taiwan and Hengchun Peninsula in the south, meaning that those areas are expected to be within the storm's outer rim within 18 hours.

As of 7 a.m., the typhoon was located 540 kilometers southeast of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost point, and moving northwest at a speed of 14 kilometers per hour.

It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 173 kph and gusts of 209 kph.

According to the CWA, a land warning is issued 18 hours before a typhoon's radius of sustained winds of 34 knots (63 kph) is expected to hit the island of Taiwan or the outlying Penghu, Kinmen or Matsu islands.

The CWA is currently projecting the storm's periphery to hit southeastern Taiwan early Thursday morning, and believes the eye of the typhoon is most likely to make landfall south of Hualien County between Thursday noon and evening.

The CWA predicted heavy rain on Wednesday for Keelung north coast and mountainous areas in Greater Taipei and Yilan, and warned of flash floods, rockfalls, mudslides in the mountains.