(Bloomberg) -- Kong-Rey has strengthened into a super typhoon as it skirts the Philippines on track for Taiwan, where it’s expected to make landfall Thursday close to an area that was battered by a powerful storm just weeks ago.
The typhoon is packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour, according to the Philippines’ weather agency, more than twice the speed they were on Monday morning. That makes the storm equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
Fueled by warm sea surface temperatures and low wind shear, Kong-Rey has undergone rapid intensification — classified by winds jumping by 55 kilometers per hour or more within 24 hours. Parts of northern Philippines are set to get more than 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain, days after Tropical Storm Trami caused widespread flooding across its main Luzon island.
Kong-Rey — known in the Philippines as Leon — is forecast to keep intensifying and reach the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, according to the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Top winds could be more than 200 kilometers per hour when it makes landfall Thursday afternoon, the center said.
The typhoon will be the second to hit Taiwan this month, after Krathon buffeted the island and shut the stock exchange. The storm stalled off the coast for days before making landfall, dumping record amounts of rain and causing agricultural losses of about NT$650 million ($20.3 million).
Additional rainfall from Kong-Rey on already waterlogged soil could heighten the risks of flooding and landslides. Some mountainous areas could get as much as 1,200 millimeters through Friday, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, which cited the local weather agency.
Flights Canceled
Ship crossings on 10 routes and a number of domestic flights have been canceled, according to Taiwanese authorities. The Taiwan Coast Guard also rescued 17 crew members from a Chinese cargo ship overnight after the vessel was impacted by Kong-Rey’s strong winds.
Taiwan’s Centers for Disease and Control has warned of heightened risks of meliodosis, with the spread of the infectious disease often exacerbated by bacteria getting flushed out of contaminated soil by heavy rains.
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.
--With assistance from Miaojung Lin, Cindy Wang and Yasufumi Saito.
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