China braces for impact as Nepartak lumbers towards it
As super typhoon Nepartak headed towards south eastern China to make its final landfall, 37,521 people were evacuated from the coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province. According to the National Meteorological Centre, Nepartak would bring torrential rain and wind gusts to the regions of Fujian and Zhejiang. However, Nepartak is expected to weaken to a tropical storm by the time it reaches China.
Super typhoon Nepartak makes landfall in Taiwan
Super typhoon Nepartak slammed into the eastern coast of Taiwan after hammering it with torrential rain hours prior to landfall. Packing winds of 240 km/h, storm chasers and meteorologists described the massive Nepartak as a "near-perfect" storm on social media. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau announced that the storm was expected to linger over Taiwan for eight hours before moving on towards south eastern China.
Landslide alerts in Taiwan due to torrential rain
Super typhoon Nepartak dumped around 22 inches of rainfall on parts of eastern Taiwan, while southern and coastal Taiwan saw 1-4 inches of rainfall. As a result, authorities issued landslide warnings across 700 mountainous regions owing to rising water levels.
3 dead and 172 injured in Nepartak's wake
The Taiwan Central Emergency Operations Centre reported 3 deaths and 172 injuries after Nepartak made landfall. More than 17,300 people had to be evacuated from their homes and 542,000 households suffered from power outages. Bullet train services were suspended and over 300 domestic flights and 340 international flights had to be cancelled. TV footage showed upturned vehicles and flying roofs ripped from houses.
China in grave danger of flooding from Nepartak
China, which is experiencing its worst flooding since 1998, is in grave danger of even worse floods from Nepartak. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, at least 188 people have been reported dead or missing across 11 provinces in China since 30th June as a result of heavy flooding. Meanwhile, an estimated 29 million people have been affected by flooding, landslides and hailstorms.
Taiwan's largest typhoon in 6 years
Super typhoon Nepartak became the largest typhoon Taiwan have faced in nearly 6 years, and is the first typhoon to form in the northern hemisphere in 2016. Until Nepartak, the northern Pacific had experienced a record streak of 200 days without a named storm.
