When Meranti edged past Taiwan, it was packing winds of up to 230 mph (370 kilometers per hour). Around 1,300 people were evacuated to temporary shelters and over 500,000 homes in Taiwan lost power. The damages to the island nation are still being assessed.
Many people might have seen the unusual Twitter picture showing Meranti with its eye directly over the tiny island of Itbayat, home to fewer than 3,000 people. The island took the full brunt of the massive storm as it passed through but the extent of the damage is not yet clear, according to RT.com.
Because there has been no communication from the Pagasa Itbayat satellite station on the island since midnight on last night, The Pagasa meteorological station in Cagayan, northern Luzon has contacted the Civil Defense team to get either the Coast Guard or navy to send a vessel on a fact-finding mission to the island, reports Channel News Asia.
Typhoon Meranti hit China’s coastline packing sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) with gusts of up to 175 mph (280 kph), making the storm a Category 4, down considerably from the near category 6 storm that it had been. The storm is expected to weaken further as it moves over land in its northwest track.
Weather Wunderground points out that the storm surge will still be dangerous because it takes time for the waters pushed by such a strong storm to subside, so people will need to be watchful. Widespread 3” – 6” rainfall amounts can be expected near the typhoon’s track as it moves inland, with localized rainfall exceeding 10 inches or more.
China has issued it highest warning level because of the tidal surge dangers. “The typhoon will bring gales and heavy rains when it makes landfall,” meteorologist Li Mei said, according to state-run Xinhua news agency. Travel on rail lines has been disrupted and businesses closed in preparation for the storm’s impact.
