Taiwan is bracing for a powerful typhoon. Flights cancelled, day off for employees, and schools were closed
Taiwan hunkered down on Wednesday for the arrival of a strengthening Typhoon Gaemi, with financial markets shut, flights cancelled and one person killed, while the military went on stand-by amid torrential rain, Reuters reports.
Gaemi, expected to be the strongest storm to hit Taiwan in eight years, is set to make landfall on the northeast coast late on Wednesday evening, weather authorities said.
They upgraded its status to a strong typhoon, packing gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) near its centre.
After crossing the Taiwan Strait, it is likely to hit the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian late on Thursday afternoon.
One person died, crushed by a falling tree, in the southern city of Kaohsiung, the fire department said. It also reported another 58 people were injured. "The next 24 hours will present a very severe challenge," Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai told a televised meeting of the emergency response centre.
Work and school were suspended across Taiwan, with streets almost deserted in Taipei's capital.
The government said more than 4,000 people had been evacuated from sparsely populated mountain areas at high risk of landslides from the "extremely torrential rain".
The transport ministry said almost all domestic flights had been cancelled, along with 227 international flights. All rail operations will stop from midday (0400 GMT), with an abbreviated schedule for high-speed links between north and south Taiwan that will continue to operate, it added.
