Typhoon Starts Long Sea Journey, Aims for East Asia
Date: 30-Aug-06
Country: TAIWAN
Typhoon Ioke, carrying sustained winds of 183 kph near its centre and gusts of up to 226 kph, is forecast to move to the northwest, the Central Weather Bureau said on Tuesday on its Web site (http://www.cwb.gov.tw), putting China, Taiwan or Japan in its path.
Ioke, which the bureau calls Ioke a "strong typhoon", could also fizzle before reaching land, a weather bureau staff member said.
Earlier this month, "super typhoon" Saomai struck southeastern China killing 436 people, the strongest storm to hit in 50 years.
Typhoons and tropical storms are common in Taiwan, southeast China, Hong Kong and the Philippines during a season that lasts from early summer to late autumn.
They tend to gather strength from the warm waters of the South China Sea, making their ultimate target difficult to predict, and weaken once they make landfall.