A powerful and rapidly intensifying typhoon is barreling toward Taiwan, disrupting ongoing military drills and prompting authorities to close financial markets, schools and offices.
Typhoon Gaemi is expected to strengthen into a super typhoon before making landfall on Taiwan’s northeastern coast Wednesday evening.
It is then forecast to continue toward China’s Fujian province on Thursday, bringing more strong winds and downpours to a country already hit hard by weeks of extreme rain and deadly flooding.
Gaemi is currently the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic, with maximum sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).
It will land near the epicenter of April’s earthquake in Hualien county. The 7.4 magnitude quake was the largest Taiwan had seen in 25 years, injuring more than 1,000 people and collapsing buildings.
Taiwan is often struck by typhoons and has a generally strong track record in preparing for the damaging winds and downpours they can bring, especially in the cities. The more at risk populations tend to be more remote and mountainous areas, especially on the east side of the island, where landslides can be pose a major danger.
Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Agency has issued a sea and land typhoon warning for the entire main island as Gaemi’s powerful winds are expected to strengthen further to 240 kph (150 mph).
Heavy rain hit Taiwan ahead of the storm’s landfall on Wednesday, with the island’s mountainous areas already reporting rainfall approaching 200 millimeters (8 inches). Rainfall well over 500 mm (20 inches) is possible for the central mountains of Taiwan, according to the CMA.
Typhoon Gaemi is strengthening in Pacific waters that have been at their warmest temperatures on record. Scientists have found that hotter oceans caused by the human-caused climate crisis are leading storms to intensify more rapidly.
Gaemi, the first typhoon of the season to affect Taiwan, has strengthened by 96 kph (60 mph) in the last 24 hours, well exceeding the definition of rapid intensification which is 56 kmh (35 mph) in 24 hours.
Most Taiwanese cities, including the capital Taipei, chipmaking hub Hsinchu and the southern city of Kaohsiung, closed schools and offices on Wednesday while Taiwan Railways suspended some rapid train services.
Dozens of flights have also been canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, with three of Taiwan’s largest carriers – EVA Air, China Airlines and Starlux Airlines – announcing disruptions due to the typhoon.
Taiwan’s defense authorities said they had to modify ongoing annual five-day Han Kuang War Games due to the typhoon. The live-fire drills are the biggest annual military exercises of their kind in Taiwan, where the armed forces are increasingly vigilant against the threat of invasion from China.
“We will adjust some of the air and naval elements given the typhoon situation,” defense ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fiang told reporters in Hualien.
Typhoon Gaemi has also forced the closure of schools and government offices in the Philippines as heavy rains hit the Manila capital region and the main island of Luzon. Some flights have been canceled and the Philippine Stock Exchange said it would cease all trading Wednesday.
Images show roads and streets in Manila flooded by rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, as people wade through knee-deep water.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said more than 770,000 people have been affected by the typhoon and southwest monsoon in the country’s southern regions, and 4,500 personnel were on standby to assist with search and rescue operations.
More extreme weather misery for China
Because the storm is strengthening prior to hitting Taiwan, Gaemi will also be stronger than previously expected when it hits China Thursday afternoon local time (early Thursday morning ET).
Though weakened, Gaemi is expected to make landfall in China as the equivalent to a strong Category 1 or low-end Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 to 160 kph (90 to 100 mph.)
The worst of the winds are expected to occur in coastal areas of Fujian province, but heavy rain will spread across Fujian, southern Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces for the rest of the week.
By the weekend, the remnants of Gaemi will likely spread heavy rainfall farther north into areas of China like Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces which have been hit hard by flooding in recent days.
For many in China, the prospect of another major storm bringing more water is a big concern.
In the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated across multiple provinces in China following deadly floods and landslides, which have blocked highways, destroyed homes and caused devastating financial losses as they wiped out crops and livestock.
Torrential rainfall hit southern, central and eastern parts of the country and led to major emergency response efforts in a flood season that has started some two months ahead of its typical schedule.
In Henan province, the flooding came after a period of scorching temperatures that complicated efforts to grow and irrigate vital crops in parts of central China’s agricultural heartland. Then, extreme rain inundated tens of thousands of acres of cropland and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to state media.
The flooding in Henan and surrounding provinces – and the double hit of arid heat and floods in a matter of weeks – has prolonged what has already been a devastating period of extreme weather across China that’s forecast to continue.
