Taiwan and China began battening down the hatches yesterday, 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.
The typhoon is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s mountainous but sparsely populated east coast in the early hours of today, where it will lose much of its strength, before crossing over the Taiwan Strait and hitting China tomorrow.
The typhoon has been labelled a category 5 storm on a scale of 1 to 5 by Tropical Storm Risk, making it a super typhoon but it should weaken to a tropical storm by the time it reaches China.
In Taiwan, authorities announced financial markets would be shut today as cities across the island, including Taipei, announced work and school closures.
Airlines began cancelling flights and the bullet train service was suspended.
The island’s weather authorities estimated wind speeds near Nepartak’s centre were at least 200kph (124mph).
The storm is expected to dump torrential rain on the whole island with mountainous areas forecast to be deluged with up to 900mm (36”), potentially triggering landslides that have in the past claimed hundreds of lives.
Residents should “keep an eye out on possible landslides, falling rocks, flash water flooding”, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said in a statement.
All fishing boats have been called back to port as waves – as high as 14m (46’), according to TV reports – batter the eastern coast.
President Tsai Ing-wen said preventative evacuation would play a significant role in managing fall-out from the storm, while Defence Minister Feng Shih-kuan said his ministry has “prepared for the worst”.
The ministry said it had deployed nearly 2,500 soldiers around the island and hundreds of vehicles, among them 14 amphibious vehicles.
More than 35,000 soldiers are on standby to help with evacuations and disaster relief, while shelters have been set up across the island.
About 200 people have been moved from their homes in Hualien and the southern cities of Tainan and Kaohsiung, according to the Central Emergency Operation Centre.
Taitung is also expected to start evacuating residents in villages and settlements most at risk of mudslides.
Most domestic flights were grounded while 106 international flights would be affected, Taipei’s two main airports said.
Dozens of ferries have also been cancelled while crowds packed onto trains along the east coast, before the railway shut later in the evening.
The popular tourist spots of Green Island and Orchid Island, which have already evacuated thousands of visitors since Tuesday, closed schools and offices yesterday.
Three other counties also announced closures.
A number of outdoor events across Taiwan, including a hot air balloon festival in Taitung, have been cancelled or postponed.
Widespread flooding across central and southern China over the past week has killed about 130 people, damaged more than 1.9mn hectares of crops and led to direct economic losses of more than 38bn yuan ($5.70bn).
The city of Wuhan on the Yangtze River, home to 10mn people, has been particularly badly affected, with flooded subway lines and power cuts.
The typhoon is expected to push more rain into already flooded areas in and around Wuhan, the Xinhua news agency said.
Wuhan is a hub for the auto industry, though automakers including Honda, Nissan and state-owned Dongfeng reported no disruptions.
Peugeot’s venture there said it launched emergency contingency plans, including deploying a sewage pump truck, but factory operations were uninterrupted and its vehicle warehouse unaffected.
Fujian province, opposite Taiwan, has cancelled all ferries to Taiwan and Taiwan-controlled islands, and suspended some trains, while Guangdong province has told fishing boats to return to port, the central government said on its website.
Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea, picking up strength over warm waters and dissipating over land.
Typhoons used to kill many people in China but the government now enforces evacuations and makes preparations well in advance meaning death tolls in recent years have been much lower.
In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a wide path of destruction over southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing $3bn worth of damage.