Typhoon Nepartak has hit eastern Taiwan, driving thousands of people from their homes, disrupting power supply and forcing the cancellation of more than 500 flights.
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A powerful typhoon lost power after slamming into Taiwan’s eastern coast, bringing ferocious winds and torrential rains to the area.
More than 15,400 people were evacuated from homes, and almost 432,000 households suffered power outages, emergency officials said. The storm continues to spin in the Taiwan Strait in a west-northwestward direction, with further weakening forecast as it moves toward China.
It has killed two people and injuring 72 others.
It has since ravaged the county, toppling trees, ripping off rooftops, overturning cars on the streets and knocking down street signs and utility poles.
Most flights were cancelled throughout the morning out of Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport.
160 people were killed and 28 went missing in heavy rains and floods in a number of provinces in the last few weeks ahead of the typhoon.
About 15,400 people were evacuated from their homes in anticipation of the storm in Taiwan, while in southeastern China, 37,521 people have been relocated in the coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province as China awaits Nepartak’s arrival.
Nepartak originally formed in the open waters of the Pacific on Sunday, south of Guam, and has been steadily moving to the northwest – it’s now forecast to reach Taiwan at about 2 a.m. on Friday morning, local time.
The strongest winds were near the eye and Taitung City took the full force of the easterlies.
Li Wei Sen, Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operations Centre spokesman, said the typhoon was packing winds of up to 163km/h.
Taiwan is often hit by typhoons, with super typhoon Dujuan killing three people and leaving more than 300 injured in Taiwan in 2015.
Men watch waves crash at the coast as Typhoon Nepartak approaches in Yilan, Taiwan July 7, 2016.
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The storm is expected to worsen already severe flooding in parts of central and eastern China, especially in the major city of Wuhan.
