ILAN, Taiwan: Taiwan came to a standstill on Wednesday as a strengthening Typhoon Gemi arrived, with financial markets closed, people given the day off work and flights cancelled, while the military went on standby amid forecasts of torrential rain.
Gaemi, expected to be the strongest storm to hit Taiwan in eight years, is expected to make landfall on the northeastern coast on Wednesday evening, meteorological authorities said.
They upgraded its status to a strong typhoon with gusts of up to 227 kilometers per hour near its center.
After crossing the Taiwan Strait, it is likely to make landfall in southeastern China's Fujian province late Thursday night.
“The next 24 hours will be a very serious challenge,” Taiwan's Prime Minister Cho Chung-tai told a televised meeting of the emergency response center.
In rural areas of Yilan County, where the typhoon first made landfall, wind and rain intensified, closing eateries as most roads were deserted.
“This could be the biggest typhoon in recent years,” fishing boat captain Hong Chun told Reuters, adding that Suao Yilan harbor was crowded with boats seeking shelter.
“It's hurtling directly up the east coast, and when it makes landfall, the damage will be enormous.”
Work and school have been suspended across Taiwan, and streets in the capital, Taipei, are almost deserted.
The government said more than 2,000 people had been evacuated from sparsely populated mountainous areas at high risk of landslides due to “very heavy rain”.
Almost all domestic flights were cancelled, as well as 201 international flights, the transport ministry said.
All rail operations will be suspended from the south, with a reduced schedule of high-speed services between north and south Taiwan continuing, the statement added.
However, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple, said it expected its factories to maintain normal production during the typhoon after it activated normal preparations.
SOLDIERS STAND
The typhoon is expected to bring up to 1,800mm of rain in some mountainous areas of central and southern Taiwan, weather services said.
Taiwan's defense ministry said it had put 29,000 soldiers on standby to deal with the disaster.
The typhoon severely curtailed this year's annual Han Kuang military drills, but they were not cancelled, with scheduled combat exercises taking place on Wednesday in the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait.
The Ministry of Water Resources has warned that Gaemi will bring heavy and very intense rains to large areas of China from Thursday.
These are the areas between the Pearl River basin in the south and the Songhua and Liao river basins on the northeastern border with Russia and North Korea, it said on Wednesday.
Rains are expected to continue until July 31, contributing to the high humidity from the typhoon, the report added.
Hemi and the southwest monsoon brought heavy rains to the Philippine capital and northern provinces on Wednesday, shutting down work and schools and suspending trading in stocks and foreign currencies. As a result of the storm, 12 people died.
Although typhoons can be very destructive, Taiwan relies on them to replenish reservoirs after traditionally drier winters, especially in the south.
