TAIPEI — Typhoon Kong-rey, the biggest typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in nearly 30 years, has made landfall on the island's eastern coast.

Schools and workplaces across Taiwan were closed on Thursday and supermarkets were stripped bare, as millions of residents braced for the storm which hit at about 13:40 local time (04:40 GMT).

With a diameter of more than 500 kilometers and packing winds of around 33 km/h (20 mph) close to its center, Kong-rey is classified as a Category 4 storm — just short of being declared a super typhoon.

Hundreds of flights and ferries, along with Taiwan’s stock exchange, have also been suspended.

It is unusual for a typhoon this big to come so late in the year. Taiwan’s typhoon season, according to its weather agency, generally falls between July and September.

For the last eight decades, all the strongest typhoons have come within that window. But this year two huge storms hit Taiwan in October — the other being super typhoon Krathon, which killed four people and left more than 700 injured.

“I’m 70 years old,” one man in Hualien told a TV reporter, “and I have never seen a typhoon hit this late in the year.”

Ocean scientists have reported near-record levels of global sea surface temperatures since July, which means there is more heat energy on the ocean surface to feed storm systems.

Beyond the extreme wind speeds of typhoons, one of the biggest threats to life from these storms is often the huge amount of moisture they carry, which can lead to excessive rain, floods and landslides.

The deadliest storm to hit Taiwan in recent decades was Typhoon Morakot in August 2009. The Category 1 storm dumped 2,777 mm of rain over the south of the island, unleashing flash floods and landslides that killed nearly 900 people.

The eastern part of Taiwan, which is set to be hardest hit by Typhoon Kong-rey, may see up to 1,200mm of rainfall between 29 October and 1 November, according to the island’s weather agency forecasters.

Taiwan’s defense ministry has put 36,000 soldiers on standby for potential rescue efforts.

Kong-rey is expected to weaken gradually after making landfall and moving across Taiwan. The storm should leave the island on Friday, says the weather agency. — BBC