By DPA
Taipei : Typhoon Sepat hit Taiwan Saturday, killing at least one person, cutting power to tens of thousands of homes and disrupting land and air traffic.
Sepat made its landfall at Hualien on the east coast at 5.40 a.m., bringing strong winds and heavy rain to most of the island.
But with the storm expected to blow for up to another day, Taiwan has cancelled all domestic flights and most of international flights on Saturday. The high-speed train system was also stopped for the day.
Sepat cut off power to nearly 90,000 homes along the east coast and triggered mudslides in the central mountains, forcing thousands of villagers to relocate.
In worst hit Hualien County, some 300 residents in 16 villages were evacuated as mudslides threatened their villages.
Sepat began to affect Taiwan Friday after skirting the Philippines, where it forced the relocation of nearly 300,000 people.
On Friday, a parcel delivery van plunged 50 metres into a mountain valley in Hualien, east Taiwan, killing one man and injuring another.
Also on Friday, an elderly man on Taiwan’s offshore Kinmen island was seriously injured after falling from his third-floor balcony.
As the typhoon swooped across Taiwan, it uprooted roadside trees, knocked off shops’ signboards, shattered windows and injured around a dozen people.
The government has ordered all schools and government offices to be closed Saturday.
Lu Kuo-chen, a weather official, said Sepat has weakened since landing on Taiwan, but the effect of the typhoon circle will linger on for up to a day before heading towards China’s southeast coast.