In rural Yilan county, where the typhoon will first hit land, wind and rain gathered strength, shutting breakfast eateries and roads mostly emptied. This could be the biggest typhoon in recent years, fishing boat captain Hung Chun told Reuters, adding Yilan's Suao harbour was packed with boats seeking shelter. It's charging directly towards the east coast and if it makes landfall here the damage would be enormous.

Work and school are suspended across Taiwan, with the streets of capital Taipei almost deserted during what is normally rush hour amid squally rain. The transport ministry said almost all domestic flights had been cancelled, along with international flights. However, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple, said it expected its factories to maintain normal production during the typhoon, adding it had activated routine preparation procedures.

Some mountainous central and southern Taiwan counties are expected to see total rainfall of up to 1,800 mm (70 inches) during the typhoon, the weather administration said. Taiwan's defense ministry said it was ready to assist with disaster relief and had put its forces on stand-by. While the typhoon has severely curtailed this year's annual Han Kuang war games, they have not been totally cancelled, with live fire drills taking place as scheduled on the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday morning.

Ahead of the typhoon hitting China, several coastal provinces began preparing with Fujian raising emergency response plans. China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters also issued a heightened emergency response for flooding in Fujian and next door Zhejiang province. Forecasters expect heavy rainfall across several provinces over the next coming days as the typhoon makes its way north. Gaemi and a southwest monsoon brought heavy rain on Wednesday to the Philippine capital region and northern provinces, prompting authorities to halt work and classes, while stock and foreign exchange trading were suspended.

Typhoon Gaemi claimed the lives of at least four people and caused hundreds of thousands to be evacuated as its rains brought widespread flooding to the Philippines. Gaemi had maximum sustained winds of 138 mph by Wednesday morning, according to the US navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center. At least four people died in a landslide triggered by the rain and more than half a million people have been displaced in the Philippines, according to a local government and the national disaster management agency.

Floodwaters in the capital of Manila inundated vehicles and brought traffic to a standstill, with some residents being seen climbing on top of stranded buses. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered all concerned agencies to provide swift assistance to all those affected. In Taiwan, President Lai Ching-te urged residents in low-lying areas and those prone to landslides to evacuate early.

Gaemi was forecast to make landfall on Taiwan's northeastern coast Wednesday night in a slightly weakened state, the island's Central Weather Administration said. After moving away from the island Friday, it was expected to continue heading northwest toward the coast of southeastern China. Meteorologists said the storm was intensifying as it approached Taiwan, an island of about 23 million people. The storm had looping track, they said, meaning that it could remain for longer at the same location, bringing more torrential rain and inflicting more damage. Taiwan was last hit by a typhoon of this strength and type in 2008.

The threat of severe weather forced the closure of schools and businesses, and the cancellation of more than 500 flights, Taiwanese officials said at a briefing Wednesday morning. Bad weather caused by the storm knocked out power to more than 18,000 homes, they added. There were fewer cars on the road than usual in the capital, Taipei, and long lines at some supermarkets as people stocked up on food and drinking water.

Gaemi, with maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometres per hour and gustiness of up to 190 kph, was heading towards Taiwan, the Philippines' state weather agency said in a 5 am bulletin. It did not make landfall but it is enhancing a southwest monsoon, resulting in heavy to intense rain in northern Philippines. Flooding and rain-induced landslides are likely. The Philippine coastguard said 354 passengers and 31 vessels were stranded in ports while airlines cancelled 13 flights on Wednesday, Manila's airport authority said. The Philippines sees an average of 20 tropical storms annually, causing floods and deadly landslides.

Taiwan hunkered down on Wednesday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Gaemi, with financial markets closed, people given the day off work, flights cancelled, and the military put on stand-by amid forecasts of torrential rain and strong winds. Gaemi, the first typhoon of the season to affect Taiwan, is expected to make landfall on the northeast coast early evening on Wednesday, according to the island's Central Weather Administration. Currently categorised as a medium-strength typhoon by Taiwan, it is then likely to move across the Taiwan Strait and then hit the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian late afternoon Friday.

In rural Yilan county, where the typhoon will first hit land, wind and rain gathered strength, shutting breakfast eateries and roads mostly emptied. This could be the biggest typhoon in recent years, fishing boat captain Hung Chun told Reuters, adding Yilan's Suao harbour was packed with boats seeking shelter. It's charging directly towards the east coast and if it makes landfall here the damage would be enormous. The Transport Ministry said almost all domestic flights had been cancelled, along with 27 international flights. However, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple, said it expected its factories to maintain normal production during the typhoon, adding it had activated routine preparation procedures.

Some mountainous central and southern Taiwan counties are expected to see total rainfall of up to 1,800 mm (70 inches) during the typhoon, the weather administration said. More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from sparsely populated mountain areas, the government said, which are at high risk of landslides from the extremely torrential rain. Taiwan's defence ministry said it was ready to assist with disaster relief and had put 29,000 soldiers on stand-by. While the typhoon has severely curtailed this year's annual Han Kuang war games, they have not been cancelled, with live fire drills taking place as scheduled on the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday morning.

Once a vibrant green, these prickly pears in Tunisia are now a dull gray.. thanks to the tiny prickly pear cochineal insect that is wreaking havoc on harvests. Gaemi, with a cloud system spanning the Western Pacific, northern Philippines and parts of the South China Sea, is expected then to turn north, bringing rain to provinces such as Hubei, Henan and even Hebei. Gaemi will start to lose its power and structure as it moves over land, but its remnants may still bring days of precipitation to northern Chinese provinces, which just a year ago were battered by historic rains due to a typhoon and suffered record economic losses.

Gaemi and a southwest monsoon brought heavy rain on Wednesday to the Philippine capital region and northern provinces, prompting authorities to halt work and classes, while stock and foreign exchange trading were suspended. While typhoons can be highly destructive, Taiwan also relies on them to replenish reservoirs after the traditionally drier winter months, especially for the southern part of the island.