Typhoon lashes Taiwan, disrupting flights and business
Posted: 28 July 2008 1028 hrs

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TAIPEI - Typhoon Fung-wong slammed into Taiwan's east coast Monday, bringing fierce winds and heavy rains that forced the closure of schools and offices across the island and severely disrupted travel.

The stock market was closed for the day along with all schools and offices and all railway traffic was halted as winds of up to 126 kilometres (90 miles) per hour blew across, uprooting trees.

All domestic flights and 56 international flights were scrapped for safety considerations, the Civil Aeronautics Administration told AFP.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated from an eastern village threatened by flash floods before the typhoon made landfall in the eastern county of Hualien at 6:50 am (2250 GMT), television images showed.

The agricultural authorities put 425 rivers on their alert list, demanding nearby residents take extra precaution against possible floods and mudslides.

Thousands of fishing boats have sought shelter in ports.

The National Fire Agency, which coordinates the country's rescue missions, said no casualties were reported as yet.

Coastguard officials said their search for a Taiwanese fishing boat which went missing Friday last week near Matsu, a Taiwan-controlled island group off China's southeastern Fujian province, had to be suspended due to the weather.

The four Taiwanese fishermen aboard remained missing but the fifth man -- a Chinese -- was rescued by a Chinese boat, the coastguards said.

President Ma Ying-jeou visited a contingency committee outside Taipei which is monitoring the storm, urging residents to be on their guard especially for heavy rainfall.

"We must continue to keep a high vigilance," he said.

Rainfall in the northeast was being measured at nearly 700 millimetres (27 inches).

At 0300 GMT, the eye of the typhoon was around 30 kilometres east of the central Taichung city and moving northwest.

Forecasters expected it to sweep across the island during the day.

"Typhoon Feng-wung's force was slightly reduced over the past three hours," said a forecaster of the Central Weather Bureau.

The bureau had come under fire from the public, the media and President Ma for underestimating the impact of Kalmaegi, which it downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm earlier this month.

The storm left 20 people dead and six missing in Taiwan.

-AFP /ls