China is bracing for Super Typhoon Meranti - the strongest in the world so far this year - as the storm pummels Taiwan.
Chinese authorities have issued their highest red alert as the storm approaches the country's eastern coast, with all ships ordered to return to port and people warned to remain indoors.
Meranti is expected to make making landfall in Fujian later today.
The storm has already caused some small chaos in China, with strong winds picking up an inflatable moon that was being used to celebrate the mid-Autumn festival in the city of Fuzhou and sending it rampaging through the streets:
Thousands were evacuated in Taiwan when the typhoon, the biggest storm in more than two decades, hit the island.
Tens of thousands of homes lost power across Taiwan, with schools and businesses closed and flights cancelled.
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau warned that the Category 5 storm would threaten several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding.
Meranti, which grew in strength as it neared Taiwan, was carrying maximum winds of 216 km per hour, meteorologists said. Fallen power cables and trees were among some of the early damage reported.
"This typhoon is the world's strongest so far this year," weather bureau spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-yun said. "Its impact on Taiwan will peak all day today."
Companies and schools in Kaohsiung and other cities have closed and almost 1,500 residents have been evacuated, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said in a statement.
Nearly 200,000 households were without power, according to the Taiwan Power Co. Most domestic flights have been cancelled, including all of those from Kaohsiung airport, where international flights were also severely affected.
Meranti is expected to make landfall in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian today, where authorities were already cancelling train services and preparing to evacuate people, state media said.
In eastern Guangdong province, authorities ordered trawlers to return to harbour and fishermen to shelter on land from Meranti, which the official China News Service said could be the strongest typhoon to hit that part of China since 1969.
Typhoons are generated at this time of year, picking up strength as they cross the warm waters of the Pacific before bringing strong winds and violent rainstorms when they hit land.
Meranti comes just over two months after the deadly typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced thousands to flee their homes across central and southern areas of Taiwan.
In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a swath of destruction through southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing up to $US3 billion of damage.
Chinese authorities have issued their highest red alert as the storm approaches the country's eastern coast, with all ships ordered to return to port and people warned to remain indoors.
Meranti is expected to make making landfall in Fujian later today.
The storm has already caused some small chaos in China, with strong winds picking up an inflatable moon that was being used to celebrate the mid-Autumn festival in the city of Fuzhou and sending it rampaging through the streets:
Thousands were evacuated in Taiwan when the typhoon, the biggest storm in more than two decades, hit the island.
Tens of thousands of homes lost power across Taiwan, with schools and businesses closed and flights cancelled.
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau warned that the Category 5 storm would threaten several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding.
Meranti, which grew in strength as it neared Taiwan, was carrying maximum winds of 216 km per hour, meteorologists said. Fallen power cables and trees were among some of the early damage reported.
"This typhoon is the world's strongest so far this year," weather bureau spokeswoman Hsieh Pei-yun said. "Its impact on Taiwan will peak all day today."
Companies and schools in Kaohsiung and other cities have closed and almost 1,500 residents have been evacuated, the Central Emergency Operation Centre said in a statement.
Nearly 200,000 households were without power, according to the Taiwan Power Co. Most domestic flights have been cancelled, including all of those from Kaohsiung airport, where international flights were also severely affected.
Meranti is expected to make landfall in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian today, where authorities were already cancelling train services and preparing to evacuate people, state media said.
In eastern Guangdong province, authorities ordered trawlers to return to harbour and fishermen to shelter on land from Meranti, which the official China News Service said could be the strongest typhoon to hit that part of China since 1969.
Typhoons are generated at this time of year, picking up strength as they cross the warm waters of the Pacific before bringing strong winds and violent rainstorms when they hit land.
Meranti comes just over two months after the deadly typhoon Nepartak cut power, grounded flights and forced thousands to flee their homes across central and southern areas of Taiwan.
In 2009, Typhoon Morakot cut a swath of destruction through southern Taiwan, killing about 700 people and causing up to $US3 billion of damage.