Mid-strength typhoon on track to lash Taiwan on Sunday

Taiwan authorities issued warnings on Saturday for a mid-strength typhoon packing wind gusts as strong as 191 kph (119 mph) and shaping up as the island''s most severe storm of the year.   

Typhoon Fanapi, set to reach Taiwan early on Sunday, would test the preparedness of the government of President Ma Ying-jeou after the island's worst typhoon in five decades triggered mudslides that killed about 700 people in August 2009.

That disaster prompted a cabinet reshuffle as citizens accused the government of reacting too slowly.                                           

Fanapi, a category 2 typhoon on a 1-5 scale and centred 480 km (298 miles) from the island's east coast at 0000 GMT, will engulf nearly all of Taiwan on Sunday, the Central Weather Bureau said on its website (www.cwb.gov.tw).  

The bureau issued warnings for high waves, heavy rainfall and sustained winds of up to 155 kph.                                           

The storm should weaken to a category 1 typhoon and then a tropical storm, the next level down, as it crosses land on Sunday, according to forecast website Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com). The weaker storm would reach southeast China on Monday, it said.                                   

Typhoons regularly hit China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan in the second half of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean or South China Sea before weakening over land.