It is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s northeastern coast on Wednesday evening local time, becoming the first super typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years. It is being called Typhoon Gaemi in Taiwan and China.
Equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, the storm will pack maximum wind speeds of 145 mph, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration. It threatens to bring landslides and floods across the mountainous terrain of eastern Taiwan, where roads and buildings were already badly damaged by a massive earthquake in April.
Typhoon Gaemi floods the Philippines on its way to Taiwan
As the downpour and wind intensified on Wednesday ahead of Gaemi’s arrival, authorities evacuated mountain villages and closed floodgates along rivers in Taipei to prevent people being washed away from riverside parks.
Officials in Taipei and surrounding towns ordered students and workers to stay at home on Wednesday, marking a level of concern above a similar Category 4 storm last year.
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As of Wednesday afternoon, the severe weather has resulted in one death and 58 injuries, with nearly 500 flights canceled and power outage affecting more than 88,000 households, according to Taiwanese officials.
The typhoon will make landfall near Hualien, the epicenter of Taiwan’s most severe earthquake in a quarter-century that claimed 18 lives and injured more than 1,000 in April. Experts worried that the heavy rain could exacerbate damage in the mountainous region, where the soil and rocks have already been loosened by the earthquake, posing risks of landslides.
Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military exercises, a practice for a potential Chinese invasion, scheduled for this week were also scaled back because of the storms. Emergency takeoff and in-air refueling drills for fighter jets were canceled on the east coast on Tuesday.
Gaemi is forecast to continue cross the Taiwan Strait to strike the Chinese coast on Thursday afternoon.
Coastal Fujian province on Wednesday upgraded emergency response to its second highest level and preemptively closed tourist sites. It also suspended ferries and trains for Thursday and Friday.
Much of southern China is already underwater from weeks of intense downpours. Heat waves and summer storms have fueled concern among Chinese officials about the country’s vulnerability to extreme weather worsened by climate change.
