Severe typhoon Koinu is approaching Taiwan: torrential rain, flash floods, strong winds and enormous waves
Typhoon Koinu is a very strong typhoon, located southeastern of Taiwan and moving quickly towards the southern parts of Taiwan. Koinu was born over the Philippine Sea and underwent a rapid intensification at the start of the week. Today, Koinu is considered a very strong typhoon equivalent to a Category 4 Hurricane with maximum sustainable wind speed of 215 km/h.
The last few hours, Koinu has been bringing torrential rain across, mostly, the eastern and southern parts of Taiwan which are accompanied by strong winds (150-200km/h) and high waves reaching even 7-8m in the south. The heavy rain combined with the strong winds and high waves could create, over the next few hours, flash flooding, as well as coastal flooding, as it heads towards the west, making a landfall over the southern parts of Taiwan. Authorities are already warning the citizens to take precautions, while severe actions have been taken. More than 100 flights were already canceled, beaches were closed and a suspension of work and schools was announced.
Le #typhon #Koinu, uivalent d'un cyclone de cat orie 4 s'approche de #Taan dont il devrait toucher la partie Sud dans les prochaines heures. Une rafale de 270km/h a r emment relev sur une e situ proche de son oeil. pic.twitter.com/jYo77VQlns
— Guillaume S het (@Meteovilles) October 4, 2023
Tomorrow, typhoon Koinu will continue its westward course bringing severe weather mostly across the southern, but also the eastern areas of Taiwan, while rain or showers will also affect the other areas, but will not be intense. Next 24h accumulation rates could reach or exceed 200-300mm in the southern areas and especially areas like Manzhou, Hengchun and Checheng will have the biggest threat of flash and coastal flooding, wind damages or building damages so it requires a lot of attention. As soon as it makes a landfall, it will be downgraded to an equivalent Category 3 Hurricane with maximum sustainable wind speed of 160-200 km/h.
Over the next few days, Koinu will head westwards towards the eastern coastline of China, starting to lose gradually its strength, downgraded to a Category 2 and then 1 on Friday as it will be close to Chaoyang and Shanwei. The typhoon will continue bringing heavy rain to the eastern coast of China and could also cause flash and coastal flooding as the winds will be still really strong and the waves could possibly reach 5-6m. The accumulation rates could reach locally even 400-500mm (in 3 days) across the southern areas of Taiwan and 150-250mm, locally over the eastern!
There is a possibility that Koinu will continue its westward course on the weekend and could also affect Hong Kong, but it remains to be seen over the next few days.