Taiwan Warns of Storm Surge from Powerful Typhoon Krathon, Mobilizes Troops

 Taiwanese military personnel load sand bags onto a truck at a city government district office for distribution in anticipation of typhoon Krathon as it approaches Kaohsiung on October 1, 2024. (AFP)
Taiwanese military personnel load sand bags onto a truck at a city government district office for distribution in anticipation of typhoon Krathon as it approaches Kaohsiung on October 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Taiwan Warns of Storm Surge from Powerful Typhoon Krathon, Mobilizes Troops

 Taiwanese military personnel load sand bags onto a truck at a city government district office for distribution in anticipation of typhoon Krathon as it approaches Kaohsiung on October 1, 2024. (AFP)
Taiwanese military personnel load sand bags onto a truck at a city government district office for distribution in anticipation of typhoon Krathon as it approaches Kaohsiung on October 1, 2024. (AFP)

Taiwan mobilized nearly 40,000 troops on Tuesday to be on standby for rescue efforts as powerful Typhoon Krathon approached its populous southwest coast, which is bracing for a storm surge.

As the typhoon approached, helicopters lifted to safety 19 sailors forced to abandon ship when it took on water.

Some flights were cancelled, a rail line was closed and in the major port city of Kaohsiung, shops and restaurants shut and streets were mostly deserted.

Taiwan regularly gets hit by typhoons, but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific, but this one will make landfall on the island's flat western plain.

Krathon is forecast to hit Kaohsiung early on Wednesday afternoon, then work its way across the center of Taiwan heading northeast and cross out into the East China Sea, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

Kaohsiung, home to some 2.7 million people, declared a holiday and told people to stay at home as Krathon - labelled a super typhoon by the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center - approached.

Li Meng-hsiang, a forecaster for Taiwan's Central Weather Administration, said the storm has reached its maximum intensity and could weaken slightly as it moves closer to Taiwan, warning of gusts of more than 150 kph (93 mph) for the southwest.

"The storm surge might bring tides inland," Li said. "If it's raining heavily it will make it difficult to discharge waters and as a result coastal areas will be subject to flooding."

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, speaking to reporters after a disaster management meeting, said the strength and path of the storm were both on par with 1977's Typhoon Thelma which killed 37 people and devastated the city.

"After the typhoon, the whole of Kaohsiung was without water and electricity, just like a war," Chen said, recalling the decades-ago destruction. "As much as possible, limit going out."

Taiwan's defense ministry said it had put more than 38,000 troops on standby, as Kaohsiung residents made their own preparations.

"It's going to strike us directly. We must be fully prepared," said fisherman Chen Ming-huang, as he tightened ropes on his boat in Kaohsiung harbor. "In the worst-case scenario the ropes might snap and my boat could drift away."

TSMC, the world's largest contract chip maker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia and which has a large factory in neighboring Tainan, said it had activated routine typhoon preparations and did not expect a significant impact to its operations.

SEARCH FOR SAILORS

Off the southeast coast, Taiwan rescue helicopters lifted to safety 19 sailors from a listing cargo vessel travelling from China to Singapore, the government said. The sailors were taken to shelter on Taiwan's remote Orchid Island.

The transport ministry said 88 domestic flights and 24 international ones had been cancelled, with boats to outlying islands also stopped. It added that all domestic flights - 234 in total - would stop on Wednesday.

The rail line connecting southern to eastern Taiwan was closed, though the north-south high-speed line was operating as normal, albeit with enhanced safety checks for wind and debris.

In Kaohsiung, most shops and restaurants pulled down their shutters, and traditional wet markets shut with streets mostly deserted.

At a building in Siaogang district, home to the city's airport, residents practiced how to rapidly set up metal barriers to stop water flooding into the underground parking lot.

"We will have only a few minutes to react if the flooding is coming," said Chiu Yun-ping, deputy head of the building's residents' committee.

Chen Mei-ling, who lives near the harbor, said in past typhoons high tides reached just a few meters (yards) from her house's main door and she had made preparations.

"We've got torches and emergency food supplies," Chen said. "It's a strong typhoon and we are worried."



Harris Reiterates Support for Gaza Ceasefire as Conflict Escalates

Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she departs after speaking at the Tribal Nations Summit in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Nov. 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she departs after speaking at the Tribal Nations Summit in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Nov. 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
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Harris Reiterates Support for Gaza Ceasefire as Conflict Escalates

Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she departs after speaking at the Tribal Nations Summit in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Nov. 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP)
Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she departs after speaking at the Tribal Nations Summit in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Nov. 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP)

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Washington will continue to pressure Israel and other players in the Middle East to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza even as advocates say that the United States has not thus far used its leverage over its ally.

In an interview with CBS news show "60 Minutes," Harris said that diplomatic work with Israel is "an ongoing pursuit," according to a clip released on Sunday.

Harris sidestepped a question in the interview on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a "real close ally."

"I think with all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people and the answer to that question is yes," Harris said, Reuters reported.

Harris reiterated Washington's position to support Israel's right to self defense against Iran and Iran-backed militant groups like Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.

"Now the work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles," Harris said.

"We're not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region including Arab leaders," Harris said.

Washington's occasional condemnation of Israel over the war's civilian death toll has mostly been verbal with no substantive change in policy.

Advocates say Washington has not put pressure on its ally by refusing to put an arms embargo that anti-war protesters around the United States and the world have demanded for months. Protests were also held over the weekend.

President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire plan for Gaza on May 31 but a deal between Israel and Hamas has not been reached due to gaps in exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and Israel's demand that it maintain presence in a corridor on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel has also been separately carrying out a military campaign in Lebanon which in recent days has killed hundreds, wounded thousands and displaced over a million.