Typhoon Sepat pounded Taiwan on Saturday bringing torrential rain and powerful winds that triggered mudslides, uprooted trees and disrupted transport across the island.
TAIPEI: Typhoon Sepat pounded Taiwan on Saturday bringing torrential rain and powerful winds that triggered mudslides, uprooted trees and disrupted transport across the island.
The typhoon made landfall on the eastern coast overnight packing winds of around 155 kilometres per hour, but the storm weakened a little during the day, said the Central Weather Bureau.
Four people suffered minor injuries in Taipei after being blown off their motorcycles while while one man was wounded by falling rocks, said the National Fire Agency.
The typhoon disrupted electricity supplies to more than 241,000 households and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,800 people from in mountain villages, according to the agency.
Television footage showed powerful winds lifting off roofs, uprooting trees and electricity poles and destroying crops in eastern and northern parts of the island.
In the eastern region of Hualien, where up to 655 milimetres of rain have accumulated since Friday, mudslides blocked a key highway, the authorities said.
All domestic flights were suspended while China Airlines and the carrier EVA Airways cancelled at total of 18 international flights.
Nineteen planes belonging to Taiwanese airlines were evacuated to the Subic Bay international airport in the northern Philippines on Friday to take them out of the typhoon's path.
Rail services were also affected. All morning train services were cancelled and the high-speed bullet train was not due to run again until the evening.
Ferries between Taiwan's Kinmen island and the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Chuanzhou were suspended.
"Sepat's impact will be the strongest Saturday morning before it moves away from the island, but its intensity has been reduced," said Lu Kuo-chen, from the weather bureau's forecast center.
The typhoon, which caused major flooding on Friday in 20 towns in the northern Philippines, was due to weaken during the night before hitting the southeastern coast of China early on Sunday.
The official Chinese news agency Xinhua said that tens of thousands of people had been evacuated from the coast of the southern provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong ahead of the storm's arrival.
The agency said many flights and ferry services in the three provinces had also been cancelled.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, ten Vietnamese women detained at a facility in the eastern county of Ilan for violating immigration laws escaped Friday, apparently taking advantage of the bad weather, immigration officials said.
One was apprehended and police were tracking the rest.
The weather bureau warned residents across Taiwan to remain on their guard and to avoid coastal activities, and mudslide alerts have also been issued.
Some 4,300 Chinese fishermen were seeking shelter in Taiwanese harbours, according to the National Fire Agency.
Sepat has evoked painful memories of 2001 when Typhoon Nari, the most devastating storm to hit Taiwan in recent years, killed 94 people and caused huge damage to agriculture.
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