Typhoon Kong-rey to make landfall Thursday afternoon, pull away from Taiwan overnight

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan Thursday afternoon and will pull out to sea sometime overnight, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

As of 9 a.m. Thursday, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was located 110 kilometers east of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost tip, and was moving northwest at 28 kilometers per hour.

It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184 kph, and gusts of up to 227 kph, according to the CWA.

At a press conference Thursday morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between Thursday midday and the afternoon.

The eye of the storm will likely pull away from Taiwan's west coast overnight, followed by its outer rim on Friday morning, Chu said.

The CWA has forecast extremely heavy rain for eastern and northern Taiwan on Thursday, meaning that rainfall totals could exceed 200 millimeters in a 24-hour period or 100 mm in 3 hours.

Chu said that mountainous areas in Yilan and Hualien in the east could see even higher rainfall levels.

In terms of the wind, Chu said gusts of up to level 17 on the Beaufort scale (above 200 kph) have already been measured on Orchid Island, off Taiwan's southeast coast.

As the storm passes over Taiwan, wind speeds are forecast to reach level 14 (149-165 kph) in Taitung and Penghu, and level 11 (103-117 kph) in Hualien, Yilan, and Matsu, as well as areas from New Taipei down to Kaohsiung, Chu said.

Meanwhile, level 9-10 wind speeds (75-102 kph) are expected in Keelung, Taipei, Nantou, Chiayi City and Kinmen, according to Chu.