Fierce impact: High waves crashing against the sea wall in Yilan as Fung-wong approaches. — AFP
More than 3,000 people were evacuated, and a land warning was issued for the arrival of Typhoon Fung-wong, which is expected to dump large volumes of rain on the island’s mountainous east coast.
The weakening Fung-wong is forecast to hit land today on Taiwan’s southwestern coast around the major port of Kaohsiung, after it killed at least 25 people while powering through the Philippines as a much stronger system.
“Fung-wong may have been downgraded to a weak typhoon, but we still cannot lower our guard,” Chen Chi-mai, the city’s mayor, told reporters yesterday.
On his Facebook page, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te urged people to keep clear of the mountains, the coast and other potentially dangerous areas.
The transport ministry said 66 flights, mostly domestic, were cancelled yesterday.
Fung-wong is expected to cross the bottom part of Taiwan and enter the Pacific Ocean along the coast of the sparsely populated eastern counties of Taitung and Hualien.
A typhoon in September unleashed flooding that killed 18 people in Hualien.
The government, which has ordered evacuations in the town of Guangfu, the scene of those deadly floods, said 3,337 people in four counties and cities had been moved to safer areas.
Hualien closed schools and offices yesterday, as did the neighbouring county of Yilan.
The typhoon will not directly affect the northern city of Hsinchu, home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker. — Reuters
