Typhoon Gaemi strengthens as it nears Taiwan, work halted, flights cancelled

Taiwan hunkered down on Wednesday for the arrival of a strengthening Typhoon Gaemi, with financial markets shut, people getting the day off work and flights cancelled, while the military went on stand-by amid forecasts of torrential rain.

Gaemi, expected to be the strongest storm to hit Taiwan in eight years, is set to make landfall on the northeast coast on Wednesday evening, the island's weather authorities said.

They upgraded its status to a strong typhoon, packing gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) near its centre.

After crossing the Taiwan Strait it is likely to hit the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian late on Thursday afternoon.

In rural Yilan county, where the typhoon will first hit land, wind and rain gathered strength, shutting eateries as most roads emptied out.

"This could be the biggest typhoon in recent years," fishing boat captain Hung Chun told Reuters, adding that Yilan's harbour of Suao was packed with boats seeking shelter. 

"It's charging directly towards the east coast and if it makes landfall here the damage would be enormous." 

Work and school were suspended across Taiwan, with streets almost deserted in its capital, Taipei, during the normal rush hour, amid squally rain.

The government said more than 2,000 people had been evacuated from sparsely populated mountain areas at high risk of landslides from the "extremely torrential rain".

Almost all domestic flights had been cancelled, along with 201 international flights, the transport ministry said. 

All rail operations will stop from midday (0400 GMT), with an abbreviated schedule for high-speed links between north and south Taiwan that will continue to operate, it added.

However, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple, said it expected its factories to maintain normal production during the typhoon, after it activated routine preparations.

SOLDIERS STANDING BY

The typhoon is expected to bring rain of up to 1,800 mm (70 inches) to some mountainous counties in central and southern Taiwan, weather officials said.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it had put 29,000 soldiers on stand-by for disaster relief efforts.

The typhoon has severely curtailed this year's annual Han Kuang war games, but they have not been cancelled, with scheduled live fire drills held on the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.

Gaemi is expected to bring heavy to very intense rains over vast swathes of China from Thursday, the water resources ministry warned.

These are areas between the Pearl River basin in the south and the Songhua and Liao River basins on the northeastern border with Russia and North Korea, it said on Wednesday. 

The rains are expected to last until July 31, fuelled by the typhoon's abundant moisture, it added. 

Gaemi and a southwest monsoon brought heavy rain on Wednesday to the Philippine capital region and northern provinces, bringing work and education to a halt, with stock and foreign exchange trading suspended, with 12 dead.

While typhoons can be very destructive, Taiwan relies on them to replenish reservoirs after traditionally drier winters, especially in its south.