Typhoon hits Taiwan, causing landslides
Sat Sep 13, 2008
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A typhoon pounded Taiwan on Saturday, bringing torrential rains and triggering landslides in the central and northern part of the island, the national fire agency said. One person was reported injured.
At 3 a.m. EDT, typhoon Sinlaku was 90 km (55 miles) east of Ilan on the northeast coast, packing winds of up to 209 kph (130 mph), the island's Central Weather Bureau and local media reported.
Schools and offices in the capital, Taipei, were ordered closed on Saturday. Surrounding areas have faced strong weather warnings since late Friday.
Television images showed heavy seas and pouring rain in a coastal part of Hualien, where some trees had been uprooted. Most flights at the island's airports have also been cancelled.
"Up to now, we just know one person was injured and we also see some landslides but repair works are under way," an official at the agency told Reuters.
The category 3 storm was expected to blanket the island before moving on towards Japan, possibly gathering strength, the Central News Agency and the forecasting website Tropical Storm Risk (
www.tropicalstormrisk.com) said.
The Xinhua news agency, meanwhile, said Sinlaku was expected to make landfall in eastern China on Sunday morning, battering the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
Taiwan government officials advised people staying away from schools and workplaces to avoid flying debris. The weather bureau said people should stay away from beaches and mudslide-prone mountains.
Sinlaku will be the fourth typhoon to hit Taiwan this year. On July 18, typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 20 people and caused extensive flooding, landslides and crop damage in the south and central part of the island.
Across the Taiwan Strait, heavy rains were forecast in northeastern Fujian and central and eastern parts of Zhejiang over the next two days. In parts of Zhejiang the rain could be torrential, Xinhua said.
Typhoons regularly reach China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan from August until the end of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific or the South China Sea before weakening over land.
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings and
Baker Li;
editing by Matthew Jones and
Roger Crabb)
