Powerful Typhoon Blasts Taiwan, Heads Toward China

More than half a million homes lost power across Taiwan on Wednesday and five people were injured as Super Typhoon Meranti, which is believed to be the world’s strongest storm this year, hit the island. Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau warned that the Category 5 storm threatened several southern and eastern cities, including Kaohsiung and Hualien, with strong winds, torrential rain and flooding. Meranti, which grew in strength the closer it got to Taiwan, was carrying maximum winds of 227 km per hour (141 mph) as it clipped the south of the island, the weather bureau said.