In Taiwan, schools, offices and business premises have been closed on Thursday as the super typhoon named Kong-rey approaches the east coast of the island in the South China Sea.
Thousands of people have fled the storm in the sparsely populated eastern parts of Taiwan. Storm winds have knocked down trees on the island and caused mudslides.
At least 27 people are said to have been injured in the storm.
Ten-meter-high waves and 51-meter-per-second winds battered Taiwan’s east coast already hours before the storm made landfall.
Kog-rey is said to be as powerful as Typhoon Gaemi, which hit the island in July. Gaemi, on the other hand, was the strongest storm registered in Taiwan in eight years.
Source: AFP