TAIPEI: On Wednesday, October 4, Typhoon Koinu rumbled toward southern Taiwan, bringing with it big rain and winds, canceling 70 domestic airlines, and suspending work and school in southern urban regions starting in the evening.
According to Tropical Storm Risk, Koinu is predicted to land on Taiwan’s southeast coastline, close to Taitung, on Thursday night as a group three typhoon, but it will diminish as it enters the Taiwan Strait and crosses the southwestern tip of the island.
The typhoon will also have an impact on Kaohsiung, a significant southern port city, but the heaviest rainfall will tumble along rocky and sparsely populated areas of Pingtung region in the south and east coast counties of Taitung and Hualien.
As the temperature gets worse, Kaohsiung and its neighboring city of Tainan announced they would halt work and classes starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
The storms will travel through Taiwan before moving on to the regions of Guangdong and Fujian in China, next to Hong Kong, where it is likely to weaken further and develop into a tropical storm.
Koinu will arrive within 800 km of the economic center on Wednesday afternoon, according to Hong Kong’s Weather Observatory. On Wednesday night, the observatory may send out its lowest storms signal, which is 1.