Schools and offices shut as Taiwan battens down for typhoon

Schools and offices were closed and flights cancelled as Taiwan braced itself for the strongest typhoon of the year nears the island. Typhoon Morakot which is listed as a category 2 storm on a 1-5 scale by the Tropical Storm Risk forecasting service is expected the island’s capital, Taipei, with winds of about 145km/h (90mph) and heavy rain Typhoon Morakot. Internal and international flights were grounded, and high-speed rail services were also cancelled. Taipei's stock markets closed and schoolchildren and workers across the island took a government-ordered day off.

Landslides and power outages have been reported in the north of the island. And by lunchtime on Friday 14 people on the island had been injured, according to reports from Agence France Presse news service. Nearly 50cm (20 inches) of rain had fallen in some mountainous areas. Some minor landslides have been reported in the north of the island and power has been cut to about 25,000 households. Local television showed clips of damaged buildings and pedestrians struggling against the wind. "We need to see how this storm develops, especially the rainfall and wind speeds in the afternoon," said Lee Ching-an, a disaster centre team leader. "But so far, no major incidents."

Thousands of people have already been evacuated from their homes in China, where the slow-moving typhoon Morakot, which means ‘emerald’ in Thai, is expected hit on Saturday. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said about 34,000 ships had been told to shelter at ports along the Fujian coastline. Local governments also sent 8.4 million text messages to mobile phone users, warning recipients of the typhoon's approach, according to the agency. Taiwan’s weather bureau warned that the typhoon could have a massive impact because it was moving slowly, and was expected to hit cities on the north east of the island later today, if it kept to its course. Taiwan often gets hit by about a dozen typhoons in the summer, which help to restock its water supply. The authorities said Morakot had already brought 167 million tons of water to reservoirs island-wide to help avert an imminent drought.

Japan's weather bureau reported heavy rain and strong winds on the country's southern islands, forcing the cancellation of more than 200 flights in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures, Kyodo news agency says. Morakot has also contributed to heavy rains in the Philippines, where at least 10 people were killed in flooding and landslides in the north.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children