Typhoon batters Taiwan's capital

Typhoon Aere whipped northern Taiwan with gusty winds and heavy rain today, while China began evacuating 249,000 people from coastal areas as it braced for the storm that has killed at least seven people.

Schools and financial markets in Taiwan were closed for a second day as the slow-moving storm whirled just 31 miles north of Taiwan’s northern tip. Aere is expected to begin lashing China later today, packing winds of 86mph and gusts of up to 108mph, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said.

Howling winds rattled windows in Taipei throughout the night and power lines were ripped away from their poles, leaving 8,912 homes without electricity in Taipei, CTI cable news reported.

At least 5,000 people were evacuated from villages in mountainous central Taiwan, ravaged just weeks ago by typhoon Mindulle, which killed 29 people. Soggy mountain slopes began crumbling yesterday, burying roads with boulders, mud and twisted trees.

People waded across streets that were flooded up to their knees in some parts of Taipei. Trees were uprooted and blocking traffic lanes in the capital’s suburbs.

Local TV showed several residents in the suburb Sanchung trying to salvage belongings from homes filled with chocolate brown water. In the suburb of Hsinchuang, parked cars were up to their bumpers in water.

Planes were grounded at Taipei’s international airport. A China Airlines flight from New York carrying premier Yu Shyi-kun had to land in Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, airport officials said. Yu was returning from a trip to Latin America.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said all flights to Hong Kong and elsewhere would be halted and might resume after 1.30pm (6.30am Irish time).

Before Aere hit the island, the storm hit seas that washed away five Taiwanese fishermen early this week. Two Japanese sisters, aged 12 and seven, were swept away while swimming near Japan’s southern Amami-Oshima islands, east of Taiwan.

The typhoon knocked over shop signs in Taipei, where most of the shops were closed with tape criss-crossing their windows for reinforcement. People parked their cars on flyovers and bridges, protecting them from flash flooding that has submerged vehicles in the past.

Some parts of Taiwan recorded 4.5 feet of rainfall within the past two days, the weather bureau said.

Just 100 miles across the Taiwan Strait, Chinese officials evacuated 249,000 people from coastal areas, China’s government said. Nearly 31,500 fishing boats were called back to port, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Aere is expected to slam into Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai. The typhoon would be the second-strongest storm to hit China this season after Typhoon Rananim, which killed at least 164 people and devastated the Chinese coast south of Shanghai.

The area is still repairing damage from Rananim, which knocked down thousands of houses, destroyed roads and ripped up crops.

Aere means “storm” in the language spoken on the Marshall Islands.