Typhoon Soudelor hits Taiwan; 4 dead, 1 missing, 27 injured

People said tall buildings swayed as they were hit by the strong gusts of wind, although the glass-covered Taipei 101, the world’s second tallest building, emerged unscathed from the gloom.

Typhoon Soudelor made landfall in Taiwan in the early hours of Saturday, ripping up trees and tearing down billboards as it battered the island with fierce winds and torrential rain, AFP reports.

Typhoon “Soudelor” will land on southeastern China’s coastal areas this weekend, according to meteorologists.

Ferry services to the islet had been halted due to strong winds.

Around 2,000 Indonesian workers are said to be working as fishermen in the Yilan regency.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) predicted Soudelor would make landfall on Saturday evening in Fujian, somewhere in a band roughly between the cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen.

Kimiya Yui tweeted this photo of Typhoon Soudelor from the worldwide Space Station with the message: “Very strong Typhoon is moving toward Taiwan”.

One mountain village in Taiwan’s northern region of Taoyuan was left nearly submerged in mud.

Mudslides buried the Heliu aboriginal community (合流) in Fuhsing District in Taoyuan Saturday morning, but there were no casualties after 25 people from 15 households were evacuated on Friday in a precautionary move.

Earlier in the week, forecasters declared Soudelor to be the world’s strongest typhoon so far this year, though it later weakened.

As the storm approached, towering waves pounded the east coast where the young girl and her mother were swept out to sea. The girl’s twin sister was missing.

They were brought back to shore four hours later. The other child was conscious.

Officials said the search for the missing girl would continue Saturday.

Hundreds of people were evacuated as the storm approached over the Pacific Ocean on Friday and the island’s military put tens of thousands of troops and thousands of vehicles on stand-by for rescue operations.

Soudelour is expected to leave Taiwan at around midday today, crossing the Taiwan Strait and hitting the Chinese province of Fujian, where the government has begun evacuating people who live on the coast.