Super typhoon whips Philippines, Taiwan, heads for southeast China

MANILA: Super Typhoon Usagi, the most powerful storm of the year, brought torrential rain and strong winds to the Philippines and Taiwan yesterday, uprooting trees and knocking out power as it barrelled towards Hong Kong.

The typhoon battered the Batanes island group in the far north of the Philippines overnight before flooding a Taiwanese village and forcing Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific to preemptively cancel all its flights.

Usagi packed gusts of up to 220kph as it passed through the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan, the Philippines’ state weather bureau said.

‘‘The winds are very strong. I cannot even go out now,’’ Batanes governor Vicente Gato told DZBB radio in Manila. ‘‘Many trees have been uprooted and we have no electricity.’’

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre said the storm dumped up to 20mm of rain an hour over a diameter of 800km on Luzon island.

Several roads and bridges were rendered impassable by overflowing rivers, it said.

In Taiwan’s southern Pintung county, a storm flooded a remote village, forcing troops to evacuate dozens of people, the state Central News Agency said.

Flights were cancelled and ferry services suspended, with schools and offices in many parts of the island closed, especially in the south and east, which were expected to bear the brunt of the storm, authorities said. Mountainous areas were closed due to fears of flooding and landslides.

Coastguards cordoned off beaches at Kenting, a popular scenic spot in the south, as strong winds whipped up the sea.

The Defence Ministry has deployed more than 1,600 soldiers to ‘‘high risk’’ areas and placed 24,000 more on standby.

In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific said in a statement it was suspending operations for two days from today, as the territory braced for Usagi’s impact.

China’s National Meteorological Centre issued a red alert as it forecast gale-force winds and heavy rain.

It said Usagi would affect the coastal areas of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces as it moved northwest.

STORM BREWING: A mother and her child hold their umbrellas tight against a powerful gust of wind as Typhoon Usagi approaches in Taipei, Taiwan, yesterday.