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Taiwan battens down for Super Typhoon Kong-rey

YILAN, Taiwan — Five-meter waves pounded Taiwan's shores Wednesday as Super Typhoon Kong-rey (locally known in the Philippines as Leon) drew near, with forecasters expecting the storm to strengthen before hitting the island as one of the most powerful in years.

Kong-rey's winds were already sustaining maximum speeds of 240 kilometers (150 miles) per hour as it approached Taiwan, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said in its latest update.

But that was expected to accelerate to 250 kph before the storm makes landfall in the lightly populated southeast on Thursday.

More than a meter of rain could fall in the hardest-hit areas by Friday as the seasonal monsoon also drenches the island of 23 million people, prompting warnings of landslides and evacuations in vulnerable areas.

Kong-rey was currently more powerful than the deadly Typhoon Gaemi, which was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years when it made landfall in July.

"If (Kong-rey) keeps the current wind speed, it will be the biggest typhoon in eight years," Chang Chun-yao from the state weather forecaster, Central Weather Administration, told AFP.

Classes and work were suspended on the two main islands of Taitung county, where the typhoon looks set to make a direct hit, while dozens of ferry services and domestic flights were cancelled on Wednesday.

Taipei residents planning to hunker down during the storm stocked up on fresh vegetables, while fishers wearing slickers against the rain tethered their boats in the harbour in Yilan county, southeast of the capital.

"Of course I'm worried. All my assets are here," a fisherman, who gave his name as Captain Chen, told AFP.

Kong-rey was expected to dump the heaviest rain on Taiwan's eastern and northern coastal areas, and over the mountains in the central and southern regions, the Central Weather Administration said.

Yilan and the eastern county of Hualien were expected to be hardest hit, with accumulated rainfall from Tuesday to Friday reaching 800 to 1,200 millimeters (31-47 inches), forecaster Chang told AFP.

"Based on the projected path of the typhoon, we advise Yilan, Hualien and Taitung to take precautions against potential landslides and debris

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