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TAIPEI-A powerful typhoon packing winds of up to 160 kph (100 mph) hit northeastern Taiwan on Sunday, dumping up to a meter of rain, causing hundreds of mudslides, injuring 14 and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.Slow-moving typhoon Sinlaku covered much of Taiwan as its centre grazed the island's northeastern tip on Sunday morning.It was expected to change direction and move northeast later on Sunday, taking its course toward Okinawa and then on to Japan's major islands.No deaths had been reported but disaster officials said 14 people were hurt in the storm that triggered widespread flooding, isolated traffic accidents, 231,000 power outages, 407 mudslides and 1,127 evacuations. "The amount of time this storm lingered and the level of rain, this time those were pretty severe," said Chris Cheng, a disaster response worker in Ilan County, a mountainous region hit by the typhoon."The most serious problems are flooding and power losses."Many places in northeast Taiwan had up to 700 mm of rain, with some mountain areas recording up to a meter, according to local media reports which showed numerous images of flooded waterways, cracked roads and uprooted trees. Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said on its website (http://www.cwb.gov.tw) that the storm carried sustained winds of about 125 kmh (80 mp), with gusts up to about 160 kph.The storm also forced the cancellation of about 20 flights from Taiwan's two major international airports and at least 40 domestic flights from Taipei's local airport on Sunday.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
