Typhoon Slams Into Taiwan, 1 Dead

TAIPEI, Taiwan – A powerful typhoon slammed into Taiwan on Saturday, killing at least one person, forcing thousands to evacuate and disrupting power supplies across the already-saturated landscape.

Typhoon Sepat – by far the strongest storm to hit the island this year – made landfall at 5:40 a.m. near the eastern city of Hualien, packing sustained winds of 109 mph. It later weakened, with sustained winds of 95 mph, the Central Weather Bureau said.

The storm, the third major tropical system to hit Taiwan in the past two weeks, cut an east-west swath, leaving overturned cars and washed out roads.

At least one person died in Hualien when a car overturned and plummeted into a steep valley.

South of that city, authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from the coastal community of Taidung, where electricity supplies were cut to 14,000 homes – a fraction of the 70,000 homes without power in eastern Taiwan.

Other evacuations – on a smaller scale – were ordered from mountainous areas in Taoyuan and Taipei counties in the north, and Nantou county in the center of the island.

All domestic air and train service was halted and some international flights – including service to Hong Kong and Japan – was canceled.

If Sepat stays on its current course, it will leave Taiwan late Saturday and head for the heavily populated Chinese coastal province of Fujian.

Sepat is the Malay word for a freshwater fish.