Typhoon Fanapi made landfall on China’s southeastern province of Fujian, forcing schools to close and airlines to cancel flights, after the storm injured 45 people in Taiwan at the weekend.
The typhoon made landfall at 7 a.m. local time in Zhangpu county, bringing heavy rain and strong winds, and is expected to move westwards at 20 kilometers per hour (12.5 miles per hour) before weakening, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement today. Heavy rains are expected in the southern, eastern and central regions including Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang, and will continue in Taiwan, the agency said.
Fanapi may be the strongest storm to strike China this year, according to a statement by the National Meteorological Center on Sept. 18. No casualties have been reported and damage is yet to be assessed, Xinhua News Agency reported today, citing the local flood control headquarters.
At Xiamen International Airport, all morning flights were cancelled and operations may resume in the afternoon, the China News Service reported on its website. There are more than 310 flights scheduled in and out of the coastal city today, it said. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said flights to and from Hong Kong may be delayed or diverted because of the typhoon. The carrier said it didn’t expect to cancel any flights.
All primary and middle schools, and kindergartens in the city were closed, Xinhua News Agency said today. The shipping route linking Xiamen in Fujian, and Kinmen Island, which is controlled by Taiwan, was closed yesterday as Fanapi approached, Xinhua said yesterday.
Forcing Evacuations
Fanapi swept across Taiwan yesterday with wind speeds of up to 180 kilometers an hour, downing electric lines, forcing evacuations and closing offices, airports and ground transport. Seventy-six people were hurt, according to government data.
Power outages struck 658,016 households on the island yesterday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported on its website. Emergency workers evacuated 11,980 people from 13 counties and 53 townships prone to landslides, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.
The storm caused agricultural losses of NT$266.9 million, ($8.4 million) the Council of Agriculture said in a statement today.
Formosa Plastics Corp. and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. are among the more than 30 petrochemical makers in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, that have halted production since yesterday afternoon because of flooding caused by Fanapi.
Emergency Mobilization
Production may resume tonight or tomorrow morning, Kuo Chao-chung, head of the petrochemical section at the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Industrial Development Bureau, said by phone today. He declined to confirm a report in the Economic Daily News today saying the halt has caused losses of about NT$2 billion.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s government mobilized more than 19,000 emergency workers to prepare for any disaster caused by Fanapi, boosting precautions this year after Typhoon Morakot battered Taiwan for three days in August 2009, killing more than 600 people and causing at least NT$110 billion in damage.
Ma, whose popularity dropped to a record 29 percent in the wake of that destruction, was at the Central Emergency Operations Center yesterday and the day before.
Majia township, in Pingtung County, received an accumulated 1,126 millimeters (44.3 inches) of rain, the most reported, and further downpours were forecast, the bureau said. That compares with the single-day record of 1,415 millimeters Morakot dumped on Taiwan.
The accumulated rainfall was reaching the levels that fell during Morakot, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.
Evacuation areas included Kaohsiung and Chiayi counties, which were among the worst hit by Morakot last year. Schools and offices at Kaohsiung city, Kaohsiung County, Taitung county and Pingtung county are closed today, the Central Personnel Administration said on its website.
Fanapi forced the cancellation of 113 domestic and seven international flights today, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Weiyi Lim in Taipei at
[email protected].
by: Bloomberg News
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