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Typhoon Koinu pounded Taiwan with heavy rain and winds on Wednesday, closing business and schools in the east and triggering warnings in most parts of the island a day before its expected landfall, forecasters said.<\/p>\n
Koinu, which formed over the Pacific Ocean last weekend, was about 105 miles east of Taiwan on Wednesday afternoon, the island\u2019s Central Weather Administration<\/a> said. It was moving west at about 9 miles per hour, carrying maximum sustained winds of 132 m.p.h. and even stronger gusts, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center<\/a>, a meteorological service operated by the U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n The storm is expected to make landfall on Taiwan\u2019s southeastern coast Thursday morning, and the island will see the heaviest rainfall on Thursday and Friday, Wu Wan-hua, a meteorologist for Taiwan\u2019s weather agency, said at a news conference. Wave heights of more than seven meters, or 23 feet, are expected around the coasts of southern Taiwan, she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Koinu\u2019s winds were equivalent to those of a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday morning, but were expected to weaken to Category 3 levels before landfall, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. After crossing the southern tip of Taiwan, the storm is likely to weaken into a tropical storm, then graze China\u2019s southeastern coast later in the week, approaching Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The storm\u2019s effects were also being felt in parts of the northern Philippines. Officials in that country have issued wind and rain advisories, warning<\/a> that landslides were possible in mountainous areas.<\/p>\n Koinu follows Typhoon Saola<\/a>, which disrupted travel and forced schools to close in Taiwan last month, after prompting evacuations in the Philippines. In July, Typhoon Doksuri<\/a> caused dozens of deaths in the Philippines from flooding and landslides before grazing Taiwan and eventually making landfall in mainland China.<\/p>\n Koinu, meaning puppy, is a name contributed to the Typhoon Committee<\/a> by Japan. In the Philippines, where the government has used a parallel naming system for decades, Koinu is known as Jenny.<\/p>\n Typhoons and hurricanes are tropical cyclones with sustained winds of at least 74 m.p.h<\/a>. The term \u201churricane\u201d refers to tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin; \u201ctyphoon\u201d refers to those that form in the northwestern Pacific and affect Asia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There is a consensus among scientists that climate change is causing tropical cyclones to become more powerful<\/a> and increasing the likelihood of major storms. Scientists also agree that climate change is affecting the amount of precipitation that storms produce.<\/p>\n Rebecca Carballo contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n