Typhoon Podul hits southern Taiwan, hundreds of flights cancelled

RTÉ News​

a day ago

Typhoon Podul hit Taiwan's sparsely populated southeast coast packing winds of up to 191km/h, as a large swathe of southern and eastern parts of the island shut down and hundreds of flights were cancelled.
Taiwan is regularly hit by typhoons, generally along its mountainous east coast facing the Pacific.
Podul slammed into the south eastern city of Taitung around 1pm (6am Irish time), Taiwan's Central Weather Administration said.
"Destructive winds from typhoon expected. Take shelter ASAP," read a text message alert issued to people in parts of Taitung early this morning. The alert warned of gusts above 150km/h in the coming hours.
Nine cities and counties announced the suspension of work and school, including the southern metropolises of Kaohsiung and Tainan. In the capital Taipei, home to Taiwan's financial markets, there were blustery winds but no impact.
Authorities are also working to evacuate those whose homes were damaged by a July typhoon that brought record winds and damaged the electricity grid in a rare direct hit to Taiwan's west coast.
The government said more than 5,500 people had been evacuated ahead of the typhoon's arrival.
All domestic flights were cancelled - 252 in total - while 129 international ones were axed too, the transport ministry said.
Taiwan's two main international carriers China Airlines and EVA Air said their cancellations were focused on routes out of Kaohsiung, with some flights from the island's main international airport at Taoyuan stopped as well.
After making landfall, the storm is expected to hit Taiwan's much more densely populated western coast before heading for China's southern province of Fujian later this week.
As much as 600mm of rain was forecast in southern mountainous areas over the next few days, the Central Weather Administration said.