Hong Kong Typoon Podul: Signal No 1 alert issued as storm hits Taiwan - flights cancelled and evacuations ordered
Typhoon Podul has made landfall in Taiwan leading to flights being cancelled at major airports.
The storm hit Taitung county on the east coast shortly after noon, moving across the southern third of the island at about 36kmph (22mph), at which rate it would head out to the Taiwan Strait and China by late afternoon, according to the Central Meteorological Agency. Authorities have shut schools and government offices in nine cities and counties, including Kaohsiung and Tainan, and cancelled 252 domestic and 129 international flights, mostly at Kaohsiung and Taoyuan airports.
The areas affected are well south of the capital, Taipei, along with Taiwan's main international airport and high-tech industrial base. More than 5,500 people have been moved from vulnerable areas, the government said, some still recovering from storms earlier in the summer.
Rainfall of up to 600mm is forecast in mountainous regions over the coming days, raising fears of flooding and landslides. Chu Chung-jui of the National Science and Technology Centre for Disaster Reduction urged residents in valley areas to leave, saying: “we must especially urge people living downstream to follow government instructions and evacuate”.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong issued a Signal No 1 alert, the lowest on the scale, as the storm is expected to pass through a close range but without a direct hit. Heat from the storm’s outer subsiding air pushed temperatures to around 35C in Hong Kong.
Forecasts warnof rain, squally thunderstorms, and the possible upgrade to Signal No 3 if conditions deteriorate. Hong Kong airports cancelled 15 flights to and from Taiwan amid growing storm concern.
The storm is expected to cross the island’s mountainous spine, weakening before moving into the Taiwan Strait and towards China’s Fujian province. The counties and cities of Tainan, Kaohsiung, Chiayi, Yunlin, Pingtung and Hualien on the east coast and the island group of Penghu in the Taiwan Strait are expected to take the brunt of the storm.