Powerful typhoon Gaemi made landfall in northeast Taiwan, early today (local time). The typhoon brought very heavy rainfall, strong gusty winds and a towering storm surge. It reached land in Yilan County with sustained winds up to 205 kmh. Earlier, it was deflected by the mountainous terrain of Taiwan, off its forecast track. It made a loop before striking the coast, consequently delaying the landfall. Similar tracks have been observed in some earlier cases as well, wherein the mountainous terrain modified the wind field of the storm, altering the timelines and the path.
The typhoon has damaged the infrastructure and also led to few casualties. The storm has left mainland Taiwan and is now parked in the Taiwan Strait. The weakened storm of a Cat-I equivalent hurricane will move northwest and cross the southeast coast of China, early tonight (local time). It is expected to drench already-soaked China. The storm will weaken on making the second landfall but still remain powerful enough to dump heavy rainfall.
The Cat-I storm will strike the coast of Fujian Province. Worst of rains and howling winds will spread across Fujian, Southern Zhejiang and Jiangxi province for the rest of the week. Remnant of the storm will drop heavy rainfall, in farther north areas of China, like Henan, Shanxi and Hebei. These areas have earlier been hit by flooding rains in recent days.
