A truck sits on a traffic divider after being blown over by strong winds in the Taiwanese city of Taitung on July 8, 2016 after Super Typhoon Nepartak passed over the island.
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China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has issued this year’s first red alert, warning people of heavy havoc expected to be caused by typhoon Nepartak which is approaching the Chinese coast.
Preparations were being made on mainland China, where Nepartak is forecast to make landfall in Fujian province today.
Typhoon Nepartak brought chaos to Taiwan on Friday, killing two people, injuring 72 and battering the island’s east coast with ferocious winds and torrential rain.
CWB forecasters said that Taiwan proper will totally exit the storm circle of Nepartak early Saturday, but the outlying islands will remain under the influence of the typhoon until Saturday evening.
More than 420,000 people across four cities, including the provincial capital Fuzhou, have been evacuated and more than 33,000 boats returned to harbour, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Most scheduled domestic flights were cancelled, while close to 500 worldwide flights were affected, Taipei’s two main airports said.
The season’s first major storm hit Taimali township in eastern Taitung county early on Friday, bringing torrential rain, shutting offices and schools and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.
Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea, picking up strength over warm waters and dissipating over land.
37,521 people were forced to evacuate the coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province after severe winds and flooding devastated the area, reports Shanghai Daily.
Winds gusting to more than 200km per hour were detected by weather stations, the Central Weather Bureau said.
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The majority of the injuries were reported in Taitung County – a total of 132 – and a lot of them were injured by falling glass or falling on the streets, said officials at the Taitung branch of Mackay Memorial Hospital.
