Typhoon Soudelor slams into Taiwan packing savage winds Skip to main content

Typhoon Soudelor slams into Taiwan packing savage winds

Wind gusts of up to 210km/h recorded as massive storm makes landfall on Saturday morning.

 | Taiwan, Weather, Asia Pacific
Preparation for the typhoon has not prevented casualties, with three deaths reported on Friday [Reuters]
Preparation for the typhoon has not prevented casualties, with three deaths reported on Friday [Reuters]
Typhoon Soudelor has made landfall in Taiwan, packing wind gusts of up to 210km/h and heavy rainfall, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau (CWB).
As expected, the typhoon hit Taiwan in the early hours of Saturday morning. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The CWB said the storm has brought with it wind gusts that have been recorded at 208km/h, and a sustained wind speed of 173km/h.
Taiwan has had several days to prepare for the typhoon, which has been tracked from space by international space agencies.
But the preparation has not prevented casualties, with three deaths reported on Friday in choppy waters off the coast of Taiwan's northeastern Yilan county.
Soudelor has already drawn comparisons to Typhoon Morakot in 2009 which blocked roads, levelled villages and killed dozens.
Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea and Pacific, picking up strength from warm waters before losing strength over land.
As Taiwan prepared to take a direct hit from the typhoon, residents of Saipan - a US territory in the Pacific - were dealing with its devastation five days ago.
In an El Nino year such as this, tropical cyclones are born in this part of the Pacific. This is not the first time this year that the islands of the Marianas, Micronesia and the Marshalls have been damaged by adolescent typhoons.
The last time a major El Nino occurred, causing the formation of 12 super typhoons in the western Pacific, was 1997 – almost 20 years ago. Six have formed so far this year.
Typhoon Soudelor as shown heading towards Taiwan earlier this week [AFP]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/typhoon-soudelor-slams-taiwan-packing-savage-winds-150807212119629.html
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