Winds were reported at 45 meters per second (100 mph), with gusts up to 55 meters per second (123 mph).
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In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines with ferocious power, leaving more than 7,300 people dead and missing and displacing more than 5 million others after leveling entire villages.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau says by late morning, Nepartak has weakened to a medium-strength typhoon.
“W$3 e have a super typhoon with wind speeds at nearly 280 km/h that is making a beeline for Taiwan, bringing 100 mm of rain by Thursday night into Friday potentially”, says Weather Network meteorologist Jaclyn Whittal. Authorities issued a “heavy rain” warning for the entire island and warned of “extremely heavy rain” for much of the eastern mountainous region.
The name “Nepartak” comes from that of a Micronesian warrior.
The island’s railway services have been suspended, while more than 600 domestic and global flights were canceled on Friday.
Earlier, transport authorities in Fujian have ordered to halt the Fujian-Taiwan ferry service from yesterday and fishing boats from Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang have been ordered back to port.
On Thursday, Cathay Pacific announced the airline would be suspending all flight operations in Taiwan from 6 p.m. Thursday, local time, until Friday afternoon – all flights between those times were canceled.
“The wind is very strong”, said a resident of Taitung, the eastern Taiwan city where the typhoon landed.
TAIPEI/BEIJING Taiwan and China began battening down the hatches on Thursday ahead of the arrival of super Typhoon Nepartak, the first of the year, with fears in China that storm could worsen already severe flooding in the east of the country.
A storm is classed as a super typhoon if it reaches maximum sustained 1-minute surface winds of at least 65 m/s (145mph), the equivalent of a category-five hurricane in the Atlantic basin.
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On social media meteorologists and storm chasers have been sharing their awe over the shape and size of super typhoon Nepartak, describing it as a “near-perfect” storm.
