Parts of Taiwan were brought to a standstill Wednesday as the strongest typhoon of the year skirted past the island's southern tip, knocking out power for more than 180,000 households.

Although super typhoon Meranti did not make landfall, the storm brought record strong winds and torrential rains to eastern and southern Taiwan.

At 0215 GMT, Meranti was 30 kilometres southwest of southernmost Hengchun township, packing gusts of up to 263 kilometres (163 miles an hour).

Hengchun's observation station recorded the strongest winds in its 120 year history earlier Wednesday, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.

"Meranti will have its most significant impact on Taiwan today," said forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun.

Television footage showed flooded streets and violent winds in southern Kenting, a tourist destination known for its white-sand beaches.

School and work were cancelled for most eastern and southern counties while trains running along the east coast have been halted -- affecting travel for the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend which starts Thursday.

The storm is expected to dump as much as 800 millimetres (31.5 inches) of rain in mountainous areas, potentially triggering landslides.

Close to 1,500 people have been evacuated from at-risk areas, with about half in temporary shelters, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.

Meranti was moving northwest into the Taiwan Strait at 18 kilometres an hour.

Another storm brewing east of the Philippines may also affect Taiwan later this week.

The weather bureau's Hsieh said tropical storm Malakas was expected to be closest to the island on Friday and Saturday, but was unlikely to make landfall. </s> TAIPEI: Parts of Taiwan were brought to a standstill Wednesday as super typhoon Meranti skirted past the island’s southern tip, bringing the strongest winds in 21 years and disrupting traffic ahead of a major holiday.

Although typhoon Meranti did not make landfall, the storm brought violent winds and torrential rain to eastern and southern Taiwan.

At 0500 GMT, Meranti was 90 kilometers (56 miles) west-northwest of southernmost Hengchun township, packing gusts of up to 234 kilometers per hour.

Hengchun’s observation station recorded the strongest winds in its 120 year history earlier Wednesday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.

“Meranti will have its most significant impact on Taiwan today,” said forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun.

“It is the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in 21 years in terms of maximum sustained wind near the center,” she added.

Southern Kenting, a tourist destination known for its white-sand beaches, was battered by winds and floods.

Residents in a fishing port in southern Taitung county woke up to find that a small lighthouse had disappeared and believed that powerful winds blew it off into the sea, as waves almost 10 meters high lashed the shore in the area.

Trucks and cargo containers were overturned while electricity poles and trees were blown down by winds in some southern areas. One uprooted tree hit a car in southern Kaohsiung city, though the driver was unharmed.

There were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.

School and work were cancelled for most eastern and southern counties, and the typhoon has knocked out power for more than 300,000 households.

There are severe travel disruptions for the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend which starts Thursday, as over 300 domestic and international flights have been cancelled and trains running along the east coast have been halted.

More than 130 ferry services to offshore islets and to several Chinese coastal cities have also been suspended, officials said.

The coastguard was forced to cancel a ceremony to launch two new ships in Kaohsiung while a maritime and defense expo in the city has been postponed, officials said.

The storm is expected to dump as much as 800 millimeters (31.5 inches) of rain in mountainous areas, potentially triggering landslides.

Close to 1,500 people have been evacuated from at-risk areas, with about half in temporary shelters, an official tally showed.

Meranti was moving northwest into the Taiwan Strait at 18 kilometers an hour. Another storm brewing east of the Philippines may also affect Taiwan later this week.

The weather bureau’s Hsieh said tropical storm Malakas was expected to be closest to the island on Friday and Saturday, but was unlikely to make landfall.

Three people were killed and hundreds were injured in July when super typhoon Nepartak pounded Taiwan.

The island’s worst typhoon death toll came In 2009 when Morakot left more than 600 dead, including 400 people who were buried by mudslides triggered by torrential rains. AFP </s> TAIPEI: Parts of Taiwan were brought to a standstill Wednesday as the strongest typhoon of the year skirted past the island’s southern tip, knocking out power for more than 180,000 households.

Although super typhoon Meranti did not make landfall, the storm brought record strong winds and torrential rains to eastern and southern Taiwan.

At 0215 GMT, Meranti was 30 kilometres southwest of southernmost Hengchun township, packing gusts of up to 263 kilometres (163 miles an hour).

Hengchun’s observation station recorded the strongest winds in its 120 year history earlier Wednesday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.

“Meranti will have its most significant impact on Taiwan today,” said forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun.

Television footage showed flooded streets and violent winds in southern Kenting, a tourist destination known for its white-sand beaches.

School and work were cancelled for most eastern and southern counties while trains running along the east coast have been halted — affecting travel for the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend which starts Thursday.

The storm is expected to dump as much as 800 millimetres (31.5 inches) of rain in mountainous areas, potentially triggering landslides.

Close to 1,500 people have been evacuated from at-risk areas, with about half in temporary shelters, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.

Meranti was moving northwest into the Taiwan Strait at 18 kilometres an hour.

Another storm brewing east of the Philippines may also affect Taiwan later this week.

The weather bureau’s Hsieh said tropical storm Malakas was expected to be closest to the island on Friday and Saturday, but was unlikely to make landfall. </s> Hong Kong (CNN) China has issued its highest warning for high ocean waves as Typhoon Meranti slices its way toward the mainland after pounding Taiwan.

The powerful storm slammed southern Taiwan early Thursday local time, bringing winds of up to 230 mph (370 kilometers per hour) -- faster than a Formula One race car -- at one point and torrential rains.

Meranti is the strongest typhoon since Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines in 2013 and is the strongest to come this close to Taiwan since 1959.

As Meranti plowed toward the mainland, heavy rain has been socking Xiamen, a Chinese city across the Taiwan Strait, CNN correspondent Matt Rivers reported.

Rough waters seen from the Chung Hwa bridge in Taiwan's Taitung county.

Rough waters seen from the Chung Hwa bridge in Taiwan's Taitung county.

Storm damage is seen near Fugang fishing port in southern Taiwan.

Storm damage is seen near Fugang fishing port in southern Taiwan.

A truck is overturned in southern Pingtung county, Taiwan on September 14, 2016. The island is bracing for the impact of Super Typhoon Meranti.

A truck is overturned in southern Pingtung county, Taiwan on September 14, 2016. The island is bracing for the impact of Super Typhoon Meranti.

Meranti is closing in on eastern China's Fujian Province.

The storm's center is within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the coast and should make landfall around 2 p.m. ET Wednesday (2 a.m. local time Thursday) near Xiamen.

Mainland emergency crews and officials braced for the deluge.

"The typhoon will bring gales and heavy rains when it makes landfall," meteorologist Li Mei said, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

No longer super but still dangerous

Meranti had been classified as a super typhoon, but the storm -- though still dangerous -- has weakened to typhoon status, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center said late Wednesday.

Continued weakening of the storm is expected, but Meranti should remain at typhoon strength for about the next 12 hours, forecasters said.

The main threats to land include large storm surges and coastal inundation, inland flash flooding, mudslides and damaging winds in excess of 90 mph (150 kilometers per hour).

Two people were injured, according to Taiwanese authorities. More than 500,000 households lost power, Taiwanese state-run Central News Agency said.

More than 370 domestic and international flights were canceled, train services were suspended and roads were closed.

As of 7 a.m. local time Wednesday, around 1,500 people had been evacuated from the affected areas, Li Wei-sen of the Taiwan Central Emergency Operating Center told CNN.

Almost 4,000 military and police personnel were deployed to prepare for potential future evacuations, but he said authorities are not expecting major damage or destruction.

In West Dawu, rainfall totaled 707 millimeters or nearly 28 inches, and flood warnings are in place for 16 rivers, the news agency said.

But the main brunt of the storm will fall on mainland China.

The storm could be the strongest to hit Guangdong province in 47 years if it makes landfall in the eastern part, Xinhua reported.

"It only took nine hours for Meranti to grow into a super typhoon from a typhoon," Guangdong meteorologist Zhang Dong told the news agency.

"Packing winds between 202 to 220 kilometers per hour, it is interacting with another storm, Malakas, 1,000 kilometers away, and the route could be hard to predict."

China's National Meteorological Center issued a red typhoon warning at 6 a.m. local time Wednesday, while authorities cautioned that waves eight to 13 meters (26 to 42 feet) high could be expected in the northeastern South China Sea.

"Gales and waves up to 12 meters high have been observed off the eastern coast of Taiwan, as the 14th typhoon this year moves westward and is expected to hit the coast of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces on Wednesday and Thursday," Xinhua reported.

Surges are expected off those three provinces, officials said.

The State Oceanic Administration trigged "a class-II emergency response, the second highest level," ships have been ordered back to harbor and people have been told not to venture outside, according to the news agency.

Meranti underwent rapid intensification Monday and Tuesday, growing from a Category 1 equivalent storm to a Category 5; the typhoon has maintained winds of 190 mph (305 kilometers per hour) for nearly 24 hours.

Despite being a frequent target for powerful Pacific typhoons, Taiwan has a track record of limiting their deadly impact. But storms often turn deadlier as they move to the mainland. The flatter terrain -- prone to storm surges and inland flooding -- and higher population density often result in a great number of deaths or displacement of people.

Despite weakening to a tropical storm, Nepartak and its associated heavy rainfall of up to 10 inches killed more than 80 people.

Meranti is expected to be much stronger when it hits the mainland, with winds around 130 mph (210 kilometers per hour), or the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico. </s> Parts of Taiwan were brought to a standstill Wednesday as Typhoon Meranti skirted past the island’s southern tip, bringing the strongest winds in 21 years and disrupting traffic ahead of a major holiday.

Although Meranti did not make landfall, the storm brought violent winds and torrential rain to eastern and southern Taiwan.

By midafternoon, Meranti was 90 kilometers (56 miles) west-northwest of southernmost Hengchun township, packing gusts of up to 234 kilometers per hour (145 mph).

Hengchun’s observation station recorded the strongest winds in its 120-year history earlier Wednesday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.

“Meranti will have its most significant impact on Taiwan today,” said forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun. “It is the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in 21 years in terms of maximum sustained wind near the center.”

Southern Kenting, a tourist destination known for its white sand beaches, was battered by winds and floods.

Residents in a fishing port in southern Taitung County woke up to find that a small lighthouse had disappeared into the sea as waves almost 10 meters high lashed the shore.

Trucks and cargo containers were overturned, while electricity poles and trees were blown down by winds in some southern areas. One uprooted tree hit a car in the southern city of Kaohsiung, though the driver was unharmed.

There were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.

School and work were cancelled for most eastern and southern counties, and the typhoon had knocked out power for more than 300,000 households.

There were severe travel disruptions for the Mid-Autumn Festival weekend starting Thursday; over 300 domestic and international flights had been cancelled and trains running along the east coast had been halted. More than 130 ferry services to offshore islets and to several Chinese coastal cities had been suspended.

The coast guard was forced to cancel a ceremony to launch two new ships in Kaohsiung, while a maritime and defense expo in the city had been postponed.

The storm was expected to dump as much as 800 millimeters (31.5 inches) of rain in mountainous areas, potentially triggering landslides.

Close to 1,500 people had been evacuated from at-risk areas, with about half in temporary shelters.

Meranti was moving northwest into the Taiwan Strait at 18 kilometers an hour.

Another storm brewing east of the Philippines may also affect Taiwan later this week. The weather bureau’s Hsieh said Tropical Storm Malakas was expected to be closest to the island on Friday and Saturday, but was unlikely to make landfall.

Three people were killed and hundreds were injured in July when Typhoon Nepartak pounded Taiwan.

The island’s worst typhoon death toll came in 2009, when Morakot left more than 600 dead, including 400 people who were buried by mudslides triggered by torrential rains. </s> Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau warned that the Category 5 storm would threaten several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding.

Meranti, which grew in strength as it neared Taiwan, was carrying maximum winds of 216 km per hour (134 mph), meteorologists said. Fallen power cables and trees were among some of the early damage reported.

"This typhoon is the world's strongest so far this year," weather bureau spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-yun said. "Its impact on Taiwan will peak all day today."

Companies and schools in Kaohsiung and other cities have closed and almost 1,500 residents have been evacuated, the Central Emergency Operation Center said in a statement.

Nearly 200,000 households were without power, according to the Taiwan Power Co. Most domestic flights have been canceled, including all of those from Kaohsiung airport, where international flights were also severely affected.

Taiwan will feel the full force of the typhoon through Wednesday and into Thursday before the storm barrels into China, meteorologists said.

Meranti is 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.

Typhoon Meranti comes just over two months after the deadly typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced thousands to flee their homes across central and southern areas of Taiwan.

In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a swath of destruction through southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing up to $3 billion of damage. </s> Tens of thousands of homes lost power across Taiwan on Wednesday as Super Typhoon Meranti hit the island, a storm seen as the strongest in the world so far this year, forcing schools and businesses to close and flights to be cancelled.

 Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau warned that the Category 5 storm would threaten several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding.

 Meranti, which grew in strength as it neared Taiwan, was carrying maximum winds of 216 km per hour (134 mph), meteorologists said. Fallen power cables and trees were among some of the early damage reported.

 ‘This typhoon is the world’s strongest so far this year,’ weather bureau spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-yun said. ‘Its impact on Taiwan will peak all day today.’

 Companies and schools in Kaohsiung and other cities have closed and almost 1,500 residents have been evacuated, the Central Emergency Operation Center said in a statement.

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

 Taiwan will feel the full force of the typhoon through Wednesday and into Thursday before the storm barrels into China, meteorologists said.

 Meranti is 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.

 Typhoon Meranti comes just over two months after the deadly typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced thousands to flee their homes across central and southern areas of Taiwan.

 In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a swath of destruction through southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing up to $3 billion of damage. </s> Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued its first land warning for Typhoon Meranti Tuesday morning, following a sea warning late Monday as the storm was expected to sweep past the southern part of Taiwan Wednesday through Thursday.



Residents in Pingtung and Taitung as well as the outlying Orchid Island and Green Island are advised to be on alert for strong wind and heavy rain, the bureau said.



Also, ships operating in waters southeast and northeast of Taiwan, the Bashi Channel, the Taiwan Strait and waters near the Pratas Islands should take precautions against high waves, it added.



As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, Meranti was located 540 kilometers east-southeast of Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving at a speed of 22 kilometers per hour in a west-northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, the bureau's data showed.



With a radius of 200 kilometers, the typhoon was carrying maximum sustained winds of 209 kph, with gusts of up to 263 kph, according to the CWB.



The bureau predicted that Meranti will have the strongest impact on Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday.



Wu Der-rong (吳德榮), a meteorologist and adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, described Meranti as "the strongest typhoon on earth this year."



He said data from the U.S. military shows that Meranti is even stronger than Typhoon Nepartak that hit Taiwan in July, although data from Taiwan and Japan both indicate that Meranti is similar to Nepartak in intensity.



(By Wang Shu-fen, Chen Wei-ting and Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/ke



For latest flight information around Taiwan:

●Taipei Songshan Airport (Airport code: TSA, for domestic services and flights to Tokyo Haneda, Seoul Kimpo and several Chinese cities)



●Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE, for most international flights)



●Taichung airport (RMQ, domestic flights and services to Hong Kong, China, and regional destinations in Asia)



●Kaohsiung International Airport (KHH, for both international and domestic services) </s> TAIPEI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of homes lost power across Taiwan on Wednesday as Super Typhoon Meranti hit the island, a storm seen as the strongest in the world so far this year, forcing schools and businesses to close and flights to be cancelled.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau warned that the Category 5 storm would threaten several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding.

Meranti, which grew in strength as it neared Taiwan, was carrying maximum winds of 216 km per hour (134 mph), meteorologists said. Fallen power cables and trees were among some of the early damage reported.

"This typhoon is the world's strongest so far this year," weather bureau spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-yun said. "Its impact on Taiwan will peak all day today."

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

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

Taiwan will feel the full force of the typhoon through Wednesday and into Thursday before the storm barrels into China, meteorologists said.

Meranti is 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.

Typhoons are generated at this time of year, picking up strength as they cross the warm waters of the Pacific before bringing strong winds and violent rainstorms when they hit land.

Meranti comes just over two months after the deadly typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced thousands to flee their homes across central and southern areas of Taiwan.

In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a swath of destruction through southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing up to $3 billion of damage. (Reporting by Faith Hung; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait) </s> Taiwan is about to be soaked by its second severe storm in just three days, with typhoon Malakas forecast to pass by the northern end of the island early on Saturday.

The tropical storm will tear past Taiwanese capital Taipei at around midday and is forecast to reach as high as a category four hurricane, with wind speeds exceeding 125 miles per hour (200 kilometers per hour).

It comes just two days after typhoon Meranti made landfall on the southern coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power.

On Friday afternoon, typhoon Malakas was hovering off the eastern coast of Taiwan and is forecast to curve up the country's coastline, growing stronger and passing Taipei, before heading towards Japan.

"Even though the storm is not forecast to make a direct landfall on Taiwan at the moment, areas towards the north of Taitung county are forecast to receive tropical storm force winds beginning Saturday afternoon and lasting into Sunday morning," CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.

"Once the storm begins its track towards the northeast it will impact the Ryuku Islands with high surf, winds and rain." Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau issued a typhoon warning for parts of the country on Friday, ahead of the storm's arrival. Typhoon Malakas was tracked at position 20.1,124.7 with 105mph NW winds #Malakas #hurricane https://t.co/Gux4BwJZHL pic.twitter.com/OkB9nk5JMP — My Hurricane Tracker (@myhurricaneapp) September 16, 2016 The new storm arrives as Taiwan's southern communities are still recovering from typhoon Meranti's arrival on Wednesday, which left two people dead and 63 injured on the island. Hundreds of thousands of homes were left without power and water, while another half a million were in need of repairs. In Xiamen province, China, at least seven people had been reported dead on Friday afternoon, while another nine were missing, after heavy rain and wind from typhoon Meranti smashed windows, uprooted trees and destroyed an 800-year-old bridge. While typhoon Malakas has been classified as a "severe typhoon" by the Hong Kong Observatory, it still cannot match the strength of Meranti, which was the region's most powerful tropical storm since typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
Taiwan issues land and sea warnings for Typhoon Meranti which is expected to hit tomorrow the southern part of the island.