Sawt Falasteen - Typhoon Podul intensifies as it nears Taiwan

The typhoon is packing wind speeds of 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour at its centre and "is strengthening", Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lin Ting-yi told AFP.

Podul is on track to hit lightly populated Taitung County at around noon (0400 GMT) before sweeping across the island and into the Taiwan Strait.

"We are worried about this typhoon," Kaohsiung fisherman Huang Wei told AFP as he used more ropes to tie down his boat and checked on other vessels.

"We had already made general typhoon preparations yesterday, but this morning I woke up and saw news reports that the typhoon has intensified to be as strong as the last, (Typhoon) Krathon," Huang said.

"Last time, the two boats behind us weren't tied properly and hit my boat."

Krathon slammed into Kaohsiung in October, with wind gusts of 162kph. Podul has gusts of 191kph, Lin said.

More than 5,500 people have been evacuated from their homes ahead of Podul, disaster officials said Wednesday, as the typhoon threatens to pound central and southern regions still recovering from storms last month.

Mountainous areas of Kaohsiung City and neighbouring Pingtung County, as well as Hualien and Taitung counties, could see torrential rain, the CWA said.

Taitung resort worker Lo Wan-chun told AFP by telephone that locals feared the storm could be as strong as Typhoon Nepartak in 2016, when the county recorded its strongest gusts since 1901.

"After 8:00 am, the storm began to intensify," she said.

"It's still getting stronger. You can hear the wind is loud right now.

"We don't recommend guests go out."

All domestic flights across the island of 23 million people have been cancelled for Wednesday, along with dozens of international journeys.

Many ferry services have been suspended and businesses and schools across the south are closed.

More than 31,500 soldiers were ready to assist in typhoon preparations as well as rescue and relief efforts, disaster officials said.

The CWA expects Kaohsiung and Pingtung could be drenched with a cumulative 400-600 millimetres (16-24 inches) of rain from Tuesday to Thursday.

Typhoon Danas, which hit Taiwan in early July, killed two people and injured hundreds as the storm dumped more than 500mm of rain across the south over a weekend.

That was followed by torrential rain from July 28 to August 4, with some areas recording more than Taiwan's rainfall of 2.1 metres for 2024.

The week of bad weather left five people dead, three missing, and 78 injured, a disaster official said previously.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST