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A man flees waves along the shore in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, as Typhoon Krathon is expected to hit the region. CHIANG YING-YING / AP As Typhoon Krathon approaches, which is already causing torrential rains in the south and east of the island, and which has left several dozen injured, Taiwan is preparing. Schools, offices and the Taiwan Stock Exchange are notably closed on Wednesday October 2, while no planes arrive or take off from the island. “This typhoon is moving very slowly,” said Cheng Chia-ping, head of the Central Meteorological Administration (CWA), specifying that it should make landfall on Thursday around 10 a.m., near Kaohsiung or Tainan (South). -West), rather than Wednesday, before weakening quickly. At the same time Wednesday, the typhoon, characterized by sustained winds of 173 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 209 kilometers per hour, was located 140 kilometers southwest of the southern city of Kaohsiung, according to the CWA. He had just been demoted overnight from the third and highest category to second. As a precautionary measure, nearly ten thousand people were evacuated from areas considered at risk, the Taiwanese Interior Ministry said. All domestic flights and ferry journeys are also canceled, while 250 international flights have been suspended. Authorities have already identified forty-six people injured due to the typhoon on the island and one person is missing offshore in Yunlin County (West). Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Asia, the continent most affected by climate disasters in 2023 Add to your selections “Catastrophic damage” expected Nearly forty thousand soldiers are standing ready to take part in possible relief operations, said namely the Ministry of Defense. President Lai Ching-te warned Tuesday that the typhoon could cause “catastrophic damage” and urged Taiwanese to be “particularly vigilant.” In Kaohsiung, authorities began distributing sandbags and materials to evacuate water. In July, Typhoon Gaemi, the most powerful to hit the island in eight years, caused widespread flooding in the city and killed at least ten people in Taiwan, as well as around fifty in China due to torrential rains of his passage, and at least forty in the Philippines. In the Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said Wednesday that eight people were injured and another was missing due to Krathon’s passage in the north of the country. More than 5,400 people had to leave their homes, most of them in the northern regions of Ilocos and Cagayan Valley, according to the same source. Typhoons are common in the region at this time of year. However, a recent study concluded that they are forming closer to shore, gaining intensity more quickly and persisting longer after making landfall due to climate change. Read also | After the Philippines and Taiwan, Typhoon Gaemi, which has already killed at least 26 people, makes landfall in China Add to your selections Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
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Author : News7
Publish date : 2024-10-03 07:27:49
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