Two killed, 100s injured in Taiwan super typhoon

A strong typhoon, called Dujuan, has killed at least two people and injured more than 300 in Taiwan, authorities say.

Those injured were hit by flying debris or were involved in traffic accidents across the island, officials with Taiwan’s Emergency Operation Center told AFP on Tuesday.

The powerful storm left about 1.8 million people with no electricity.

Trees were uprooted and windows were smashed by severe winds of up to 227 kilometers per hour. The typhoon also triggered landslides across Taiwan.

Just outside the capital, Taipei, landslides blocked the roads into the tourist town of Wulai in the northern part of the country.

According to authorities, some 12,000 had been evacuated from vulnerable areas ahead of the arrival of the storm, while tens of thousands of troops were ready to help those affected. Almost 3,000 people were put in temporary shelters.

Throughout the capital, “the roads are blocked but residents aren’t in any immediate danger,” a spokesman for New Taipei City fire department said.

The sovereign island country of Taiwan is governed by China.

Regional forecasters categorized Dujuan as a “super typhoon” as it sped up before making landfall late Monday in eastern Chinese mainland.

Typhoon Dujuan hit the Chinese coastal city of Putian in the southeastern province of Fujian on Tuesday morning. Over 260,000 people, according to state news agency Xinhua, were also evacuated in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

The typhoon paralyzed all flights at three airports in Fujian, and tens of thousands of boats were called back to the shore in the neighboring Zhejiang Province.

Last month, typhoon Soudelor led to at least eight deaths in Taiwan and killed 21 people in mainland China.