TAIPEI, Sept 14, 2008 (AFP) - A powerful typhoon pounded Taiwan on Sunday with fierce winds and torrential rains, causing thousands of people to flee their homes and leaving at least 13 people injured, officials said. Traffic was severely disrupted as Typhoon Sinlaku made landfall in northeastern Ilan county early Sunday, packing winds of up to 173 kilometres (107 miles) per hour, the Central Weather Bureau said. Hundreds of domestic and international flights have been cancelled on the island, and around 500 passengers were stranded in Kinmen airport, a Taiwan-controlled offshore island near the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen. Traffic on 20 highways was interrupted by landslides caused by heavy rains, which have accumulated to up to 1,000 millimetres (40 inches) in some remote mountainous areas over the weekend. Power and telephone services were also disrupted to nearly 100,000 households as trees were uprooted by the strong winds.
Some 250 residents in northern mountain villages were evacuated to safety, said the National Fire Agency which coordinates Taiwan's rescue missions. The typhoon lost momentum after making landfall but weather forecasters warned residents against relaxing their vigilance, saying the storm had brought heavy rains across the island. "Its strength declined slightly, but the whole island remains surrounded by the typhoon. People should take precautions against the torrential (rains) which may trigger flooding and landslides," said a weather bureau official. "Over the last six hours, the typhoon circled near Suao," a fishing port in Ilan county, the official said. Thirteen people were injured, including two hit by debris, while four were hurt when their bus crashed in southern Taiwan, the National Fire Agency said.
At 0400 GMT, the centre of the typhoon was 40 kilometres north-east of the northern city of Keelung. With a radius of 250 kilometres, Typhoon Sinlaku was moving north-northeast towards Japan. On the southeastern coast of mainland China, more than 170,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying coastal regions in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. Sinlaku evoked painful memories of Typhoon Nari, which hit Taiwan in September 2001, leaving 94 people dead and causing severe flooding. Two tropical storms pounded the island in July, leaving at least 22 people dead and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to agriculture.
cty/pch