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Super Typhoon Meranti shuts down Taiwan

Wednesday, 14 September 2016 8:01 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 14 September 2016 9:49 AM ]

Cars drive past collapsed power lines, which have partially blocked the road, as Super Typhoon Meranti skirts Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, September 14, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

A powerful typhoon packed with heavy rain and strong winds has ripped through Taiwan, bringing the island to a standstill.

Super Typhoon Meranti, the strongest storm in the world so far this year, left tens of thousands of homes across Taiwan without power on Wednesday.

The powerful storm forced the closure of companies and schools in Kaohsiung and other cities and the evacuation of almost 1,500 residents, the Taiwanese Central Emergency Operation Center said in a statement.

Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center also said five people had been injured, while many power lines were brought down, cutting electricity to 550,000 households.

“The damage from Meranti will continue to rise as the storm slams the island,” said the emergency center’s spokesman, Li Wei-sen.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau had warned that the Category-5 storm would hit several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding.

According to meteorologists, Meranti, which grew in strength as it neared Taiwan, was carrying winds with a maximum speed of 216 kilometers per hour.

They said Taiwan will feel the full force of the typhoon through Wednesday and into Thursday before it makes landfall on China.

The township of Hengchun’s observation station recorded the strongest winds in its 120-year history earlier Wednesday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.

Meranti is expected to make landfall in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian on Thursday, where officials have ordered train services to be cancelled and are preparing to evacuate people.

Typhoon Meranti comes just over two months after Typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced thousands to flee their homes across the central and southern areas of Taiwan.

In 2009, Typhoon Morakot devastated southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing more than three billion dollars in damage.

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