Taiwan closes schools and offices as typhoon Kong-rey reaches east coast

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Schools and offices have been closed in Taiwan as a powerful typhoon made landfall on Thursday after barreling past the northern Philippines, bringing high winds and floods to much of the island’s east coast and northern areas. Flights and train service have also been suspended and 8,600 people moved to shelters.

Typhoon Kong-rey was blowing at 184 kilometers (114 miles) per hour with gusts of up to 227 kilometers (141 miles) per hour as it moved over the eastern county of Taitung. Parts of Yilan and Hualien Counties were inundated by heavy rain, but many farmers in the largely rural areas had already brought in their crops in anticipation of damage from the storm.

No deaths or major property damage have been reported from Kong-rey so far in Taiwan. Taiwan authorities reported 27 injuries from the storm and said they were seeking to contact a pair of Czech tourists who had been hiking in Hualien’s Tarako National Park, famed for its steep cliffs and mountain trails. Other travelers were advised to stay where they were.

In Taiwan, the capital Taipei was largely shut down as it was hit by high winds and heavy rains. Off the north coast, a tugboat was dispatched to tow away a Chinese-registered freighter that floundered and had been abandoned by its crew amid heavy seas.

Earlier Thursday, typhoon’s eye blew about 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, a cluster of islands and islets of about 19,000 people. Villagers in northern Philippine provinces evacuated to shelters on Wednesday.

The Philippines weather agency had warned the the storm could blow away roofs and shatter windows as well as wreaking extensive damage to farmland, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

“It’s so, so powerful and we haven’t seen the extent of the damage yet because the wind outside is still so strong,” Batanes Governor Marilou Cayco told The Associated Press by cellphone before the line was cut off.

Kong-rey, the 12th weather disturbance to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, lashed the Southeast Asian nation while it’s still recovering from a storm last week that left 179 dead and missing. Hundreds of thousands of people are still in emergency shelters from Tropical Storm Trami.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and regularly sends planes and warships around the island, largely suspended its patrols, with just eight planes detected around the island between Wednesday and Thursday, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

___

AP writer Jim Gomez contributed from Manila, Philippines.

The Associated Press