Taiwan shuts down as Super Typhoon Kong-Rey nears: Stock market, schools, flights on hold

Taiwan has suspended trading on its $2.5 trillion stock market as residents brace for a direct hit from Super Typhoon Kong-Rey, one of the biggest storms to strike the island this late in the year.

Kong-Rey is packing top winds of 51 meters per second (114 miles per hour), and is forecast to cross the east coast on Thursday afternoon, according to the local weather bureau. The typhoon is equivalent to a tree-snapping Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.

Flights have been canceled, people evacuated from areas near where Kong-Rey is poised to make landfall, and offices and schools have been shut. The storm has already soaked parts of northern Philippines, and Shanghai is expected to see the heaviest rain in four decades due to the typhoon.

The suspension of stock trading is the third time this year due to a storm, the first time that’s happened since 2015. Krathon earlier this month and Gaemi in July led to halts. Neighboring Hong Kong ended its decades-long practice of shutting markets during storms in late September.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the go-to chipmaker for Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., has activated routine typhoon alert preparation at its plants. A raft of companies issued exchange filings announcing delays to board and shareholders meetings, and the delivery of cash dividends.

The typhoon is impacting travel. Rail services have been suspended, and 229 domestic and 298 international flights canceled as of 10 a.m. local time, according to Taiwanese authorities.

Powerful Typhoon

Kong-Rey is a large storm, with strong to typhoon-force winds extending up to 600 kilometers from the center, according to the Philippines’ weather agency. That makes it wider than Hurricane Helene, which struck Florida in September, inundating cities and towns far from the coast.

The last typhoon of similar strength to make a direct hit and track over Taiwan so late in the year was Gilda, which struck in November of 1967, according to the local weather agency. In 2007, Krosa — also of similar intensity — clipped the northeastern part of the island before tracking toward mainland China.

The system will decelerate as it approaches Taiwan, and is expected to make landfall with winds of 109 miles per hour as a strong Category 2 hurricane, according to the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Shanghai Downpour

Large parts of Taiwan’s mountainous eastern region will see heavy rainfall on Thursday, with some areas getting more than 300 millimeters (12 inches) over the next 12 hours. Additional rainfall on already waterlogged soil from Krathon could heighten the risks of flooding and landslides.

The storm has already injured 27 people and forced the evacuation of 8,600, according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center. More than 28,000 households are currently without power, data from state-owned Taipower show.

After making landfall, Kong-Rey is expected to weaken slightly as it traverses northwestward across Taiwan, then re-emerge in the Taiwan Strait. From there, it could edge toward the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as it curves into the East China Sea, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.

Shanghai is facing the heaviest rainfall since 1981 due to Kong-Rey, according to state broadcaster China Central Television. The city is expected to see showers from Thursday afternoon.