Typhoon Gaemi lashed northern Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people, causing flooding and sinking a cargo ship, before heading across the ocean to China, where it is expected to bring more torrential rain.
Gaemi made landfall on the northeastern coast of Taiwan’s Yilan County around midnight (1600 GMT on Wednesday). According to the Central Meteorological Administration, it is the most powerful typhoon to hit the island in eight years and had winds of up to 227 kilometres per hour (141 mph) before weakening.
At 8.30 am (local time) it was in the Taiwan Strait and heading towards Fuzhou in China’s Fujian province.
The storm left about 500,000 homes in Taiwan without power, although most power has now been restored, power company Taipower said.
Taiwan’s fire department said a Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship carrying nine Myanmar nationals had sunk off the coast of the southern port city of Kaohsiung with no response from the crew. It said search operations were continuing.
The typhoon is expected to bring more rain to Taiwan, with offices, schools and financial markets closed for a second day on Thursday.
Trains, including the high-speed line linking northern and southern Taiwan, will be suspended until 3 pm (0700 GMT), and all domestic flights and 185 international flights will be cancelled for the day.
The government said the typhoon killed two people and injured 266. Taiwanese television stations showed images of flooded streets in cities and counties across the island.
Chinese weather forecasters said Gaemi will pass through Fujian province later on Thursday and move inland, gradually moving north with less intensity. But weather forecasters expect heavy rains in many areas as it moves north.
Government officials have already prepared for heavy rains and flooding and issued warnings and advisories in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
Government authorities in Fujian have relocated about 150,000 people, most of them from coastal fishing communities, state media reported. As the typhoon’s winds intensified, officials in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, suspended passenger waterways 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.
According to CCTV, Guangzhou rail authorities have suspended some trains passing through storm-hit areas.
Meanwhile, northern China is seeing heavy rain from summer storms around a separate weather system. According to Chinese state media, authorities in the capital, Beijing, issued a red alert late Wednesday for torrential rain expected on Thursday.
Heavy rain is already falling in some areas and emergency plans have been activated, with more than 25,000 people evacuated, according to the Beijing Daily. Some train services at Beijing West Railway Station have also been suspended, according to state media.
The Beijing Fangshan District Meteorological Observatory forecast that many parts of the city would receive more than 150 mm (6 inches) of rain in six hours by 10 am (0200 GMT), and some other areas would receive more than 200 mm (8 inches) in 24 hours, state television reported.