Typhoon Megi reaches China after pounding Taiwan
Taipei - Typhoon Megi made landfall at China's eastern Fujian province Wednesday with heavy rain and wind speeds reaching up to 118 kilometres per hour, local media reported.
China's weather forecasters Tuesday issued alerts for waves and storms as Megi approached, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Its arrival in China comes after Megi killed five people and injured hundreds in Taiwan on Tuesday.
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau lifted the land typhoon warning Wednesday after the storm's eastern edge left the island.
Premier Lin Chuan expressed admiration for the thousands of disaster workers for "reducing the scope of harm to the smallest possible level."
"Fortunately, we were able to avoid large-scale landslides, floods or destruction to bridges or roads," Lin said.
The heaviest rainfall in Taiwan was recorded in Taipingshan in northeast Yilan County with 1,109 millimetres, but levels of over 800 millimetres were recorded in mountainous Kaohsing and Tainan in south Taiwan.
Downed trees blocked roads in the capital Taipei and numerous intersections remained flooded.
The Taiwan Power Co reported 970,000 houses still lacked electricity.
At least 543 international flights were cancelled or delayed and 270 domestic flights were cancelled because of the storm, which also caused the suspension of all high-speed and ordinary rail services.
- DPA
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