Typhoon drenches Taiwan, kills 2 people; floods hit Manila

Waves are seen behind a girl as Typhoon Nepartak approaches, in Yilan, Taiwan July 7, 2016. Philippine forecasters warned fishing boats not to venture out to sea and commercial…

The outer bands of the “near-perfect” super typhoon Nepartak slammed into southeastern Taiwan early Friday, showering the region with furious winds, rain and power outages, CNN affiliate SETTV reported.

According to tropical storm tracker report, Super Typhoon Nepartak is expected to make landfall between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, the two cities next to Xiamen which are more or less about 50km apart.

The majority of the injuries were reported in Taitung County, – a total of 132 – most due to falling glass or falling on the streets, said officials at the Taitung branch of Mackay Memorial Hospital. Bullet train service had been suspended, and more than 300 worldwide and 254 domestic flights cancelled, an emergency services website showed. (EBC via AP Video) Filipino rescuers ferry residents on a rubber boat along a flooded road in suburban Mandaluyong, east of Manila, Philippines, as monsoon downpours intensify while Typhoon Nepartak exits the country on Friday, July 8, 2016.

About 270,000 households had been affected by power cuts, a lot of them in Hualien and Taitung counties, Li said.

With wind speeds of 234 kilometres per hour spanning a width of 200 kilometres, Napartak is Taiwan’s largest super-typhoon in six years. Heavy rains that have fallen over the past couple of weeks have caused severe flooding that has killed at least 160 people, mainly along the Yangtze.

Tropical Storm Risk had rated the typhoon as category 5, at the top of its ranking, but it is now weakening and should be a tropical storm by the time it hits Fujian on Saturday morning.

Taiwanese officials have been preparing for the arrival of what meteorologists hail as a textbook flawless storm, mobilizing thousands of troops with a mandatory evacuation issued for the Orchid and Green islands, which were hit first.

Fisherman Chen Chun-po said, “Yes, I am anxious about it, same as everyone here”.

On Thursday, Cathay Pacific announced the airline would be suspending all flight operations in Taiwan from 6 p.m. Thursday, local time, until Friday afternoon – all flights between those times were canceled.