(Taipei) The powerful typhoon Gaemi is heading toward eastern China on Thursday after sweeping across Taiwan, where it killed two people, and triggered landslides that killed six people in the Philippines.
On Wednesday, the powerful storm, accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain, forced the island of Taiwan to cancel some of its annual military exercises, close schools and offices and evacuate thousands of people from areas at high risk of landslides.
On Thursday morning, measured winds were less powerful, reaching 154 km/h, after the typhoon’s center moved toward the sea around 4:20 a.m. (4:20 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday), the Central Meteorological Administration of Taiwan said.
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However, wind and rain continue to threaten parts of Taiwan, as well as the islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, she warned.
The storm, which is heading towards Fujian province in eastern China, has caused flooding in southern Taiwan.
Several cities, including Taipei, have announced that schools and government offices will remain closed for the second day in a row. The stock market is also closed Thursday.
The typhoon killed two people and injured more than 200 others before it made landfall. A motorcyclist was crushed by a falling tree in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Thursday, and a driver was killed when debris fell on her car in the eastern Taiwan province of Hualien, authorities said.
Six dead in the Philippines
Taiwan experiences tropical storms every year from July to October, but experts believe climate change has increased their intensity.
At their peak, the winds that accompanied Gaemi gusted at 190 km/h as the typhoon headed towards Taiwan, leading forecasters to say it was expected to be the “strongest” typhoon to make landfall in eight years.
Before sweeping the autonomous island, Gaemi hit the northern Philippines on Wednesday, intensifying the monsoon season, causing flooding in the streets of Manila.
South of the capital, in the province of Batangas, landslides claimed the lives of a pregnant woman and three children.
North of Manila, in the province of Papanga, a woman and her five-year-old child died, also in a landslide.
In total, at least 12 people have died as torrential rains have battered much of the Philippines for the past two weeks, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
About 20 major storms and typhoons hit the Philippines and surrounding waters each year, damaging homes and buildings and killing hundreds of people.