Typhoon Gaemi made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast, packing wind gusts of about 240 kph (150 mph).
Kemi, which made landfall near Hualien city, is expected to be the most powerful storm to hit the island in eight years.
Taiwanese authorities said two people were killed and hundreds were injured.
The island’s largest annual military exercise has been called off and almost all domestic flights and more than 200 international flights have been cancelled, according to the Ministry of Transport.
- author, Rupert Wingfield Hayes and Fan Wang
- role, Taipei and Singapore
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Officials have warned that the storm is most likely to cause landslides and flooding, particularly Major earthquake in April.
On its way to Taiwan, Gaemi also brought relentless rains to large swaths of the Philippines, flooding roads in the capital Manila, turning them into rivers.
The storm reached maximum wind speeds of 240 km/h (150 mph), making it the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in terms of wind strength and destructive power.
The government declared Wednesday a typhoon day and suspended work and classes across the island except for Kinmen.
However, chipmaker TSMC told the BBC that its factories would continue to operate as normal.
The typhoon was initially expected to move further north, but the mountains in northern Taiwan caused it to deviate slightly south, heading toward Hualien City.
The typhoon is expected to weaken as it passes through Taiwan’s mountainous regions before moving again towards China through the Taiwan Strait.
A second landfall is expected late Thursday in China’s Fujian province, where up to 300mm of rain is expected to fall and cause widespread flooding as the storm moves inland and breaks up.
Typhoon Gaemi’s predicted path
Officials say despite its very strong winds, Ghaemi’s biggest threat is that it is carrying a lot of moisture.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau issued land warnings for the whole of the island, predicting the heaviest winds and rains on Wednesday and Thursday.
Taiwanese authorities have warned that one to two metres of rainfall is expected in mountainous areas of the central and southern part of the island over the next 24 hours.
In the capital Taipei, supermarket shelves were bare by Tuesday evening as people stocked up in anticipation of prices soaring after the typhoon passed.
The threat of the typhoon forced the government to cancel parts of the week-long Hang Quang military drills scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, despite repeatedly saying the drills would be the “most realistic ever.”
Ghaemi and the southwest monsoon also dumped heavy rains in the national capital and northern provinces of the Philippines on Wednesday, cancelling work and classes and suspending stock and foreign exchange trading.
Metro Manila, home to about 15 million people, was plunged into disaster mode as rivers and streams overflowed their banks.
Footage circulating on social media showed small cars floating in chest-high water and commuters trapped on the roofs of buses.
The state weather department said rain, common at this time of year, could continue through Thursday.
