TAIPEI - Typhoon Kong-Rey made landfall in Taiwan packing dangerous winds, with Shanghai bracing for the heaviest November rain burst since 1981 as the large storm tracks toward mainland China.
Kong-Rey had maximum sustained winds of 51 metres per second (114 miles per hour) before crossing the east coast, according to Taiwan’s weather bureau. That is equivalent to a tree-snapping Category 3 hurricane.
Taiwan suspended trading on its US$2.5 trillion stock market on Thursday due to the storm, which also led to flight cancellations, power outages, and the shutter of schools and offices. The typhoon soaked parts of northern Philippines, just days after the archipelago was hit by Storm Trami.
The suspension of stock trading is the third time this year due to a storm, the first time that has happened since 2015. Krathon earlier this month and Gaemi in July led to halts. Neighbouring Hong Kong ended its decades-long practice of shutting markets during storms in late September.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the go-to chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has activated routine typhoon alert preparation at its plants. A raft of companies issued exchange filings announcing delays to board and shareholders meetings, and the delivery of cash dividends.
Rail services have been suspended, and 229 domestic and 314 international flights cancelled as of 2pm local time, according to authorities. The storm has already injured 27 people and forced the evacuation of 8,600, Taiwan's Central Emergency Operations Centre said. More than 96,000 households are currently without power, data from state-owned Taipower show.
Powerful typhoon
Kong-Rey is a large storm, with strong to typhoon-force winds extending up to 660 kilometres from the centre, according to the Philippines' weather agency. That makes it wider than Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida in September, inundating cities and towns far from the coast.
The last typhoon of similar strength to make a direct hit and track over Taiwan so late in the year was Gilda, which struck in November of 1967, according to the local weather agency. In 2007, Krosa — also of similar intensity — clipped the northeastern part of the island before tracking toward mainland China.
Large parts of Taiwan's mountainous eastern region will see heavy rainfall on Thursday, with some areas getting more than 300 millimetres (12 inches) over the next 12 hours. Additional rainfall on already waterlogged soil from Krathon could heighten the risks of flooding and landslides.
Shanghai downpour
After making landfall, Kong-Rey is expected to weaken slightly as it traverses northwestward across Taiwan, then re-emerge in the Taiwan Strait. From there, it could edge toward the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as it curves into the East China Sea, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
Parts of Shanghai could see as much as 280mm of rain overnight into Friday, potentially making it the city's heaviest rainfall event in November in four decades, according to state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).