Typhoon Haikui, the first to pass directly over Taiwan in four years, made landfall on the island’s east coast on Sunday, the Taiwan Meteorological Bureau announced.
“The typhoon reached Taitung at around 3:40 p.m. [hora local, 08h40 em Lisboa]a little earlier than expected, because it is moving faster,” a Taiwanese meteorologist told the French agency AFP.
An hour before landfall, the storm, classified as a “very strong typhoon”, was moving at about 22 kilometers per hour in a west-northwest direction, according to the Met Office.
The outer part of the storm should not leave the island until the end of Monday, according to office technicians.
Haikui is the first major storm to hit Taiwan since Typhoon Bailu in August 2019.
Authorities moved hundreds of people to safety in the Taitung area, where Haikui made landfall, and also suspended operations on at least three railway lines on the island.
Parts of southern Taiwan were under alert for “extremely intense or torrential” rains, which could reach 700 millimeters in some mountainous areas, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
According to the Zoom Earth hurricane tracking platform, Haikui could hit China’s southeast coast early Tuesday morning, weakening its intensity to severe tropical storm category.
The neighboring province of Guangdong and the neighboring regions of Hong Kong and Macao, further south, were on high alert this weekend for the passage of super typhoon Saola.
The storm became a tropical depression after making landfall around noon local time Saturday.
Source: TSF
