Taipei: A typhoon slammed into Taiwan overnight, leaving at least six people dead or missing and more than a dozen injured, officials and media reported on Saturday.
Typhoon Morakot made landfall in the eastern Hualien county late Friday night, the Central Weather Bureau said. It is expected to weaken to a tropical storm before it hits southern China late Saturday or early Sunday.
Morakot, packing winds of up to 74 miles per hour (119 kilometers per hour), was centered about 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of the capital, Taipei, as of 10:15 am on Saturday (0215 GMT) and was powering in a northwesterly direction at a speed of 7 mph (11 kph), the weather bureau said.
A 67-year-old woman died late Friday when she drove her motorcycle into a ditch during heavy rain in the southern Kaohsiung county, the National Fire Agency said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The Apple Daily newspaper said a 47-year-old man slammed his car into a train in torrential rain in eastern Yilin county late Friday and died on the spot. The newspaper did not provide a source.
Another four people were missing and feared dead, the National Fire Agency said. Two were fishermen whose boat capsized off the coast of Pingtung county in the south, the agency said.
Another man who was fishing onshore in eastern Taitung county fell into the sea and has not been recovered, the agency said. A villager, also in Taitung, set off on a fishing expedition early Friday as the storm approached the island but no one has been able to contact him since, it said. It did not provide any more details.
At least 15 people were reported injured across the island.
Morakot is expected to weaken from typhoon to tropical storm strength before it makes landfall in southern China's Fujian and Zhejiang provinces late Saturday or early Sunday, the China National Meteorological Center said on its Web site.
The storm is nevertheless expected to bring intense wind and heavy rain to coastal and inland areas on the mainland.
In a notice on its Web site, the Fujian government said authorities have moved more than 252,000 people from their homes in coastal areas and some 48,000 fishing boats called back to harbor.
All schools and scenic spots in Fujian have also been ordered closed and more than 3,300 paramilitary troops are on alert, equipped with flotation devices, speedboats and other rescue gear, the government said.
Schools and businesses throughout Taiwan were closed Friday. Authorities canceled many flights from Taipei to Asian destinations and all domestic flights departing from the capital. They also suspended operations of the island's state-of-the-art high speed railroad.
Morakot is the first typhoon to hit Taiwan this year. Typhoons frequently move in between July and September, often causing injuries and deaths in mountainous regions that are prone to landslides and flash floods.