Typhoon Longwang 2 Oct 2005

[arlwx]

Typhoon Longwang Lashes Taiwan, Threatens China

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...5utk&refer=asia

(Update2)

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Longwang lashed Taiwan today with winds gusting up to 191 kph (119 mph), injuring at least 37 people and disrupting air and rail services. The storm may reach China's mainland as early as tonight.

The eye of the typhoon made landfall at Feng-ping, a town in the eastern coastal county of Hualien, at 5:15 a.m. local time, the Central Weather Bureau said on its Web site. The center of Longwang went across Taiwan island and was about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north-northeast of the western offshore island of Penghu at 1 p.m. local time today, the bureau said.

China Airlines and EVA Airways Corp., Taiwan's two largest carriers, canceled all domestic and international flights before 2 p.m., while almost all rail services have been suspended, the Ministry of Interior said on its Web site. Flights may resume after 2 p.m., it said.

About 740,000 households have no power supply and about 5,500 mainland Chinese sailors have sought shelter in the island's protected harbors, it said.

Longwang, named after Chinese mythology's god of rain, is the 19th-named storm of the Western Pacific typhoon season. It may reach Fujian province in southern China as early as this evening, the Beijing-based China Meteorological Administration said on its Web site today.

The typhoon is heading west-northwest toward China, slowing to 18 kph from about 25 kph yesterday, Taiwan's weather bureau said. It has slowed to a typhoon with winds gusting up to 173 kph, down from 191 kph earlier today, and from a supertyphoon with winds falling from gusts of as much as 227 kph, it said.

Toward China

Longwang may land along the coast between the towns of Chongwu and Zhao'an in Fujian, the report from China's weather administration said. The report didn't give specific disaster preparation details for China, which tomorrow starts a five-day holiday for National Day.

Authorities in Fujian have resettled about 210,300 workers from sea vessels and fish farms as of 9 a.m. Beijing time today from Sept. 30, according to state-owned Xinhua News Agency today.

The typhoon dumped as much as 508 millimeters (20 inches) of water in the highlands of northern Taiwan, the weather bureau said. Yesterday, the council issued mudslide warnings and flood alerts for 354 rivers in nine counties.

Talim, Damrey

To avoid the typhoon, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian made a stop at the Indonesian island of Bali on his way back to Taiwan from a visit to the United Arab Emirates, the government said in an e-mailed statement.

Typhoon Talim, the third storm to strike Taiwan this year, last month lashed the island with heavy rains and winds gusting up to 180 kph, leaving three dead and causing NT$1.2 billion ($36 million) in damage to crops and property.

In China, 82 people were killed after Talim crossed the Taiwan Strait and hit Fujian province.

Typhoon Damrey earlier this week killed 89 people in China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand and caused widespread damage to property and crops before crossing over Laos as a tropical depression on Sept. 28, according to media reports.