In this image released by the New Taipei Fire Department, emergency rescue personnel carry a child through a flash mudslide caused by Typhoon Soudelor in Xindian, New Taipei City, northern Taiwan, Saturday, August 8, 2015. As of this writing, at least 185 people have been injured, and six killed in the wake of Soudelor’s destruction.
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At 9:30am local time on Saturday, more than two million households were without power and 80,000 more were without water, according to the Taiwanese national disaster reponse centre. An 80-year-old man was found drowned in his home and a man was killed by a falling tree.
The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 173km per hour, with gusts reaching 209kph. Soudelor left a a trail of debris in Taiwan and Saipan.. Among those killed were a mother and her daughter who were swept out to sea, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.
Soudelor is expected to depart the island later Saturday, moving across the Taiwan Strait and into mainland China’s Fujian province, where authorities have ordered the evacuation of at least 158,000 people.
A weakened Typhoon Soudelor made landfall in China and was set to be downgraded today after killing six people and injuring hundreds in Taiwan, where millions were left without power. Taiping Mountain, in Yilan County on the island’s northeast side, got 4.2 feet of rain in less than 48 hours, the Central Weather Bureau said.
All 279 domestic flights on the island were cancelled on Saturday as well as at least 37 worldwide flights.
Soudelor made landfall in Putian County in the southeastern province of Fujian around 10 p.m. on Saturday after battering Taiwan, where nearly 3.5 million homes had experienced power disruptions.
Over the course of the storm, the risks from flooding and landslides are potentially greater than the risks from storm surge or wind, which will be diminished by Taiwan’s mountainous terrain, said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. More than 7,000 soldiers and police remain on standby as the storm passes through.
Flights to Fuzhou and the city of Quanzhou were canceled, and about 100 trains running through the coastal city of Xiamen suspended services, Xinhua said.
It churned towards the neighbouring provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi on Sunday, the Xinhua state news agency said.
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The goods left Guam aboard the USS Ashland on Friday.
