Thousands of people were evacuated from Taiwan as Super Typhoon Meranti – the strongest tropical cyclone this year – bypassed the southern tip of the country on Wednesday. Torrential rain and winds of 234 kmph hit about 90 km west-northwest of Hengchun township. The local observation centre there said this was the strongest gale it had recorded in its 120-year history.


Taiwan residents, especially those in remote areas, are not well prepared to withstand the typhoon's strong gales.

Companies and schools in Kaohsiung and other cities were closed and almost 1,500 residents were evacuated, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said.

Nearly 200,000 households were without electricity, according to Taiwan Power. Most domestic flights were cancelled, including all of those from Kaohsiung airport, where international flights were also severely affected.

Taiwan was expected to feel the full force of the typhoon on Wednesday and into Thursday before the storm reached China, meteorologists said.

Meranti was expected to make landfall in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian on Thursday, where authorities were already cancelling train services and preparing to evacuate people, state media said.

In eastern Guangdong province, authorities ordered trawlers to return to harbour and fishermen to shelter on land from Meranti, which the official China News Service said could be the strongest typhoon to hit that part of China since 1969.

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Chinese authorities say 28 people are have died in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces and another 15 people remain missing, according to the Associated Press.

The storm prompted China to issue its highest warning for high ocean waves. Xinhua news agency said it was the strongest typhoon to hit that part of the country since the founding of Communist China in 1949.

The storm caused power cuts for 1.65 million homes. More than 1 million people are still without electricity, as of 10:00 UTC on September 15.