TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Typhoon Kong-rey's radius has surpassed 300 km and forecasts suggest it could be the largest to impact Taiwan in nearly 30 years.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Wednesday (Oct. 30) upgraded Kong-rey to a strong typhoon and said its radius has reached 320 km, per CNA. The last time a strong typhoon with a storm radius exceeding 300 kilometers made landfall was Typhoon Herb in 1996, said CWA meteorologist Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯).
The CWA issued sea and land warnings for Kong-rey. As of 3:15 p.m., the typhoon was 410 km southeast of Eluanbi moving northwest at 14 kph carrying maximum sustained winds of 190 kph and gusts of up to 234 kph.
Chang said the last typhoon with a storm radius of 300 km was Typhoon Doksuri in July last year. It traveled northward through the Taiwan Strait, with its center making landfall in China’s Fujian Province near the coast east of Kinmen, without impacting Taiwan’s main island.
Before that was Typhoon Krosa in October 2007, which had a storm radius of 300 kilometers. It weakened to a moderate typhoon before making landfall between Toucheng Township and Sandiaojiao in northern Taiwan.