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Typhoon Haitang strikes Taiwan with heavy rains
Government offices, financial markets, schools and airports in Taiwan were forced to close as Typhoon Haitang lashed the island with strong winds and heavy rains on Monday, according to reports reaching here from Taipei. According to the local Weather Bureau, the storm was centered in the Pacific Ocean about 60 kilometers east of Hualien in eastern Taiwan at 11:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) and was packing sustained winds of 184 kph. Torrential rains swept through Taipei at daybreak while powerful winds uprooted trees and dislodged billboards in the northern part of the island. The storm's full impact was due in the late afternoon when its eye was forecast to pass a point just south of Taipei. Hundreds of people were evacuated from several remote mountainous villages in Hsinchu County where dozens of people were buried alive by landslides last year, the Taiwan Disaster Prevention and Relief Center said. As of Monday morning, seven people in Taipei and Kaohsiung County have been mildly injured, the disaster relief center said, adding that no other casualties have been reported so far. All domestic flights, including those to outlying islands, and railway services, were suspended, while many international flights from Taoyuan International Airport were also canceled. Typhoons and storms frequently batter Taiwan between July and September. Haitang, a flower name in Chinese, is the first typhoon to hit Taiwan this year.
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