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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)
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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.

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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."

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South Korea Unveils Its Most Powerful Missile, Which Could Reach North Korea’s Underground Bunkers

South Korean's Hyunmoo ballistic missiles (L) and Long-range surface-to-air guided missiles (L-Sam) (R), march, during the 76th Armed Forces Day on the main street in Seoul, South Korea, 01 October 2024. (EPA)
South Korean's Hyunmoo ballistic missiles (L) and Long-range surface-to-air guided missiles (L-Sam) (R), march, during the 76th Armed Forces Day on the main street in Seoul, South Korea, 01 October 2024. (EPA)
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South Korea Unveils Its Most Powerful Missile, Which Could Reach North Korea’s Underground Bunkers

South Korean's Hyunmoo ballistic missiles (L) and Long-range surface-to-air guided missiles (L-Sam) (R), march, during the 76th Armed Forces Day on the main street in Seoul, South Korea, 01 October 2024. (EPA)
South Korean's Hyunmoo ballistic missiles (L) and Long-range surface-to-air guided missiles (L-Sam) (R), march, during the 76th Armed Forces Day on the main street in Seoul, South Korea, 01 October 2024. (EPA)

South Korea unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons targeting North Korea during a massive Armed Forces Day ceremony Tuesday, as the South's president warned the North's regime would collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons.

South Korea’s weapons displays and warning against North Korea came after its northern rival recently rose regional animosities by disclosing its uranium-enrichment facility and tested missiles ahead of the US presidential election in November.

"If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the (South Korea)-US alliance," President Yoon Suk Yeol told thousands of troops gathered at a military airport near Seoul. "That day will be the end of the North Korean regime."

"The North Korean regime must abandon the delusion that nuclear weapons will protect them," Yoon said.

During the ceremony, the South Korean military displayed about 340 military equipment and weapons systems. Among them was its most powerful Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, which observers say is capable of carrying an 8-ton conventional warhead that can penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers in North Korea. It was the first time for South Korea to disclose that missile.

The US flew a long-range B-1B bomber during the ceremony in an apparent demonstration of its security commitment to its Asian ally. South Korea also flew some of its most advanced fighter jets.

Later Tuesday, South Korea will parade its troops and weapons through the streets of Seoul, the capital, as part of efforts to boost military morale and demonstrate its deterrence capabilities against potential North Korean aggressions.

Also Tuesday, South Korea launched its strategic command that officials say integrates South Korea’s conventional capabilities with US nuclear weapons. South Korea has no nuclear weapons.

Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has put a stronger military alliance with the US and an improved trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation at the center of his security polices to cope with North Korea’s advancing nuclear program.

In recent years, North Korea has performed a provocative of missile tests and threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with South Korea and the United States.

Last month, concerns about North Korea’s bomb program further grew after it published photos of a secretive facility to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. It was North Korea’s first unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at the country’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars in 2010.

South Korean officials say North Korea will likely try to further dial up tensions with provocative weapons tests ahead of the US election to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with a new US government. Experts say North Korea likely thinks an expanded nuclear arsenal would help it win bigger US concessions like extensive sanctions relief.

Earlier Tuesday, North Korea’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, slammed the US for its temporary deployments of powerful military assets to South Korea and vowed strong responses. He cited the recent visit of a US nuclear-powered submarine and Tuesday's B-1B flyover.

Kim threatened to bolster North Korea's "powerful war deterrent," an apparent reference to its nuclear capability, and take unspecified steps to stoke security concerns to the security of the US mainland. Observers say his comments implies North Korea may consider test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.