TAIPEI - A typhoon forming in the Pacific Ocean about 5,000 km (3,100 miles) east of the Philippines is heading for East Asia and could hit in about a week, the Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan said on Tuesday.
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.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
