Thousands evacuated as Typhoon Haikui heads for Chinese Taipei

Thousands of people were evacuated in Chinese Taipei ahead of Typhoon Haikui, with hundreds of flights cancelled and businesses closed as authorities prepared Sunday for the first tropical storm to directly hit the island in four years.

Haikui is expected to make landfall by 5:00 pm local time in Taitung, a mountainous county in lesser-populated eastern area. The typhoon was packing a sustained wind speed of about 140 kilometres per hour, as schools and businesses in the southern and eastern parts of the island were closed Sunday.

Haikui is expected to be less severe than Saola, which bypassed Chinese Taipei but triggered the highest threat level in nearby Hong Kong and southern China before it weakened into a tropical storm by Saturday.