TAIPEI: Powerful wind and torrential rain disrupted air traffic and forced offices and schools to close in Taiwan on Thursday as Typhoon Kalmaegi approached the island.

Kalmaegi was 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Hualien on the east coast at 9:00 pm (1300 GMT), packing winds of up to 108 kilometres an hour, Taiwan's weather bureau said.

Television images showed residents in Hualien city and a town in the south battling rising floods.

"The impact is expected to be the strongest tonight and Friday morning as Kalmaegi moves closer to Taiwan," said Wu Teh-rung, director of the Central Weather Bureau's forecast centre.

But the bureau said Kalmaegi's strength was offset as it bore down on the east, which is studded with high mountains.

The weather forced the closure of the airport on Orchid Island while one internal flight was also suspended, authorities said.

Offices and schools in northeastern Ilan county shut down while television footage showed that some streets in southern Kaohsiung city were flooded.


- AFP/so