Taiwan Braces for Impact of Super Typhoon Krathon

TaiwanPlus News

Evacuations have begun in southern Taiwan as Super Typhoon Krathon inches toward the southwest coast, expected to bring torrential rains and winds of over 200 km/h to much of the country over the coming days.

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00:00Taiwan is bracing for impact as Super Typhoon Kraton approaches from the southwest.

00:05President Lai Ching-teh is urging citizens to stay alert and avoid traveling to mountainous

00:10regions.

00:11Kraton has been growing in strength as it makes a rare swing around towards Taiwan's

00:16west coast.

00:17The storm is expected to make landfall on Wednesday morning, bringing with it potentially

00:22deadly winds and rain.

00:25Our reporter Rick Glauert is live for us in southern Taiwan.

00:31This is Fangliao in southwest Taiwan, and it's just a little bit north of here that

00:35Typhoon Kraton is expected to make landfall over the next few hours.

00:40But as you can see, the weather is already deteriorating here.

00:43The waves here are reaching heights of two to three meters.

00:46Across the county, there's a public holiday, schools, businesses are closing, and the Coast

00:51Guard here are reminding citizens that there is a sea warning in place and that it is dangerous

00:56to be near the sea.

00:59Elsewhere in the county, in mountainous regions, there's already reports of flooding and landslides.

01:04That's affecting the people that are living there.

01:06There's hundreds of people that have been evacuated.

01:09We went to a relief center where some people have had to spend the night outside of their

01:13homes.

01:26There's a stream there, and if it rains heavily, it's an area that's prone to landslides.

01:33If the rain is too heavy, there's a risk of landslides.

01:37We're more at ease here.

01:40We can watch TV reports, so we're at ease.

01:49It doesn't matter if the wind is strong or the rain is strong.

01:57So Typhoon Krapon is currently lingering just off the coast of Taiwan here, and it's expected

02:03to slowly move towards this area over the next few hours.

02:07Of course, Taiwan is no stranger to typhoons, but what makes this one rare is both its intensity

02:13– it can be considered, in hurricane terms, a Category 4 – and also its direction.

02:19It's coming from the southwest.

02:21So communities here are preparing, bracing themselves for what could well be a once-in-a-generation storm.

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