Heavy rains and sustained winds of nearly 140 km / h are battering Taiwan, as Typhoon Haikui approaches, which is expected to make landfall east of the island on Sunday, September 3 at 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m.). hours, Paris time), in the Taitung region, neighboring the mountainous county of Hualien.
The Interior Ministry said more than 2,800 people had been evacuated from seven towns on the island deemed to be high risk, mostly in Hualien County. Hundreds of domestic flights have been canceled, along with rail transport and ferry services. Schools and offices have closed in the south and east of the island.
Among the canceled events were a hot air balloon festival in the central region of Taichung, several outdoor concerts, art events and a baseball festival. National parks and dangerous roads in the mountainous center of the island have also been closed. Even the capital Taipei, in the north of the island, is showered by driving rains.
It is to be “the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in four years,” President Tsai Ing-wen said Sunday.
“Stay On Guard”
At 9 a.m. local time, Haikui was about 180 kilometers east of the island, according to Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Bureau. “It has strengthened somewhat since [Saturday],” noted its deputy director, Fong Chin-tzu, during a press conference during which he called on the population to “stay on their guard”.
Haikui “is expected to pose a considerable threat to most parts of Taiwan with winds, rains and waves,” he warned, adding that the storm would then head west towards the Taiwan Strait. , to China on Monday. Authorities in the Chinese city of Shantou in Guangdong province have advised residents to take precautions.
But Haikui must be less powerful than Saola, which had raised the maximum alert in Hong Kong and southern China before degrading into a tropical storm on Saturday. The last major storm to hit the island was Typhoon Bailu, which claimed one death in 2019.