Typhoon Meranti has landed in China after struck Taiwan with its strongest storm in 21 years leaving two dead and dozens of injured persons.
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The typhoon will first make landfall in Fujian and Canton on Thursday and authorities have launched an emergency response programme and ordered all ships to return to port and residents to remain indoors. Furthermore, typhoon Meranti knocked out power in nearly 1 million homes and water in more than 700,000 homes. Water supplies in China’s Fujian provice which caused widespread blackout in Xiamen.
The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in the region also took a hit as airlines cancelled several flights and train services were disrupted.
Typhoon Meranti was the strongest one that hit China’s southern coast since 1949, Xinhua state news agency said.
The powerful storm raked southern Taiwan with drenching rains and dangerously damaging winds of up to 370 kmph which is faster than a Formula One race vehicle.
Typhoon Meranti – the third most violent typhoon on record, brings powerful and strong winds and rain to coastal cities as Taiwan cleans up.
The storm was expected to continue to lose strength as it pushed inland and up towards China’s commercial capital of Shanghai, but would still bring heavy rain.
According to reports, the typhoon killed one and caused the relocation of 46,327 people, damaging 113 houses and blowing down 350,000 trees in the city.
“This typhoon is the world’s strongest so far this year”, weather bureau spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-yun said.
The eye of the storm was located about 470 kilometres to the southeast of Taiwan and was moving northwest at a speed of 22 kilometres per hour, according to the bureau.
About 1.65 million homes in southeastern China is without power. Most domestic flights were cancelled, including all of those from Kaohsiung airport, where global flights were also severely affected.
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Cars drive past collapsed power lines that partially block the road in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung county on September 14, 2016.
