Sawt Falasteen - Typhoon Podul pummels Taiwan, heads towards China

Wind gusts of up to 178 kilometres (111 miles) per hour were recorded shortly before the typhoon slammed into Taitung County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

One person is missing after he went fishing and was swept away, and 112 have been injured, disaster officials said.

More than 8,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

As Podul swept across storm-battered central and southern areas of Taiwan, it toppled dozens of trees and triggered flooding.

Streets in the port city of Kaohsiung were littered with fallen branches.

Several hours after making landfall, Podul had entered the Taiwan Strait.

"Kaohsiung, Tainan and Chiayi will become major rainfall hotspots tonight, with increasing rain also expected in Penghu and Kinmen," CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen told a briefing attended by President Lai Ching-te.

- Flights scrapped, schools shut -

All domestic flights across the island of 23 million people were cancelled on Wednesday, along with dozens of international journeys.

More than 63,000 households were still without power.

High-speed rail services on the west coast were reduced, while train services in the southeast were cancelled.

Many ferry services were also suspended, and businesses and schools across the south closed.

More than 31,500 soldiers were ready to assist in rescue and relief efforts, disaster officials said.

The CWA expects mountain areas in Kaohsiung and Tainan could be hit with a cumulative 400-600 millimetres (16-24 inches) of rain from Tuesday to Thursday.

Podul is expected to make landfall in China along the coast between Xiamen, Fujian and Shantou, Guangdong, from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.

Some schools in Guangdong have paused classes while train and ferry services have been temporarily halted, it said.

Parts of other provinces such as Hunan and Jiangxi in central China will also see heavy to torrential rain, CCTV added.

- Intense weather -

Podul comes after weeks of intense weather in central and southern Taiwan, which is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October.

Typhoon Danas, which hit Taiwan in early July, killed two people and injured hundreds as the storm dumped more than 500 mm of rain across the south over a weekend.

That was followed by torrential rain from July 28 to August 4 that left at least five people dead, with some areas recording more than Taiwan's rainfall of 2.1 metres for 2024.

Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat.

The death toll from flash floods and mudslides in northwest China has risen to 13, state media said on Saturday.

Heavy rain in Beijing in the north also killed 44 people last month, with the capital's rural suburbs hardest hit and another eight people killed in a landslide in nearby Hebei province.

Scientists have shown that human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.

Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures, but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas.

Warmer air can hold more water vapour, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.

R.Halabi--SF-PST