Typhoon Gaemi has swept over northern Taiwan, killing two people, triggering flooding and sinking a freighter before barrelling west across the Taiwan Strait towards China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Gaemi crossed on the northeastern coast of Taiwan in Yilan county about midnight.
It is the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years and was packing gusts up to 227km/h before weakening, according to the Central Weather Administration.
Gaemi was in the Taiwan Strait about noon on Thursday and heading towards Fuzhou in China's Fujian province.
Gaemi would be the biggest typhoon to hit China's eastern seaboard in 2024, with its spiralling cloud-bands spanning most of the western Pacific Ocean and fuelling severe weather from the Philippines to Japan's Okinawa islands.
In Taiwan, the storm cut power to about half a million households, though most were back online, utility Taipower said.
Parts of southern Taiwan are expected to have recorded accumulated 2200 millimetres of rain since Tuesday.
The typhoon is expected to bring more rain across Taiwan in its wake, with offices and schools as well as the financial markets closed for a second day on Thursday.
Trains were stopped until midafternoon, with all domestic flights and 195 international flights cancelled for the day.
Two people had died and 266 injured due to the typhoon, the government said.
Taiwanese television stations showed pictures of flooded streets in cities and counties across the island.
Taiwan's fire department said the search was ongoing for a Tanzania-flagged freighter with nine Myanmar nationals on board that sunk off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung.
Chinese weather forecasters said Gaemi would pass through Fujian province later on Thursday and head inland, moving northward with less intensity, but weather forecasters expect heavy rain in many areas as it tracks north.
Government officials have already prepared for heavy rain and flooding, raising advisories and warnings in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
In Fujian, government officials have relocated about 150,000 people, mainly from coastal fishing communities, state media reported.
As gales picked up, officials in Zhoushan in Zhejiang suspended passenger waterway routes for up to three days.
Most flights were cancelled at airports in Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian, and Wenzhou in Zhejiang, according to the VariFlight app.
Guangzhou rail officials suspended some trains that pass through typhoon-affected areas, according to CCTV.
Some areas in Beijing experienced heavy rain and emergency plans were activated, with more than 25,000 people evacuated, according to Beijing Daily.
Australian Associated Press
