Five-meter waves pounded Taiwan's shores Wednesday as Super Typhoon Kong-rey 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 harbor in Yilan county, southeast of the capital.
This Himawari satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Typhoon Kong-rey as it develops over the West Pacific.