Taiwan grounds flights as it braces for Typhoon Gaemi

Taiwan is bracing for the arrival of powerful Typhoon Gaemi which is expected to make landfall on the island’s North East coast late on Wednesday.

The storm – the first typhoon of the season to affect the island – has led to the cancellation of parts of its largest annual military drills.

Almost all domestic flights have been cancelled, along with more than 200 international flights, according to the transport ministry.

On its way to Taiwan, Gaemi also brought relentless rains to large swathes of the Philippines, with floods turning streets into rivers in the capital Manila.

The typhoon is seeing winds of up to 240kmh (150 mph), the equivalent of a high category 4 hurricane in terms of wind strength and destructive potential.

The government has declared Wednesday a typhoon day, suspending work and classes across the island except for the Kinmen islands.

However, chip manufacturing giant TSMC told the BBC that their plants will maintain normal operations.

The storm is currently tracking slightly further north and will cross the north of Taiwan, including the capital Taipei later on Wednesday night. It will then pass out into the Taiwan straits on Thursday and strike the coast of Fujian in South East China.

Despite the very strong winds, officials say the main threat from Gaemi is from the huge amount of moisture it is carrying.

The island’s Central Weather Administration has issued a land warning for all of Taiwan, expecting wind and rain to be at their worst on Wednesday and Thursday.

Taiwan authorities are warning that more than one meter of rainfall can be expected across the central and southern mountains of the island in the next 24 hours.

The area in central Taiwan that will be hit, was struck by a large earthquake earlier this year, which destabilised mountainsides. There is therefore potential for landslides and flash flooding.

In the capital Taipei, which has seen heavy rain and winds picking up, shelves in supermarkets were left bare on Tuesday evening as people stocked up ahead of what are expected to be sharp rise in prices after the typhoon passes.

The threat of the typhoon has also forced the government to call off parts of its planned week-long Hang Kuang military drills on Tuesday and Wednesday, although they had repeatedly said the drills would be “the most realistic ever”.

Gaemi and a southwest monsoon also brought heavy rain on Wednesday to the Philippine capital region and northern provinces. Work and classes have been halted there while stock and foreign exchange trading were suspended.

Metro Manila, home to nearly 15 million people, was placed under a state of calamity as rivers and creeks overflowed.

Footage circulating on social media showed small cars floating in chest-deep waters and commuters trapped on the roofs of buses.

The state weather bureau said the rains, which are typical at this time of the year, could persist until Thursday.