
Typhoon Podul has blown through Taiwan’s south with winds as powerful as 191km/h (118mph), leaving one person missing, forcing thousands of people to evacuate, schools to close, and hundreds of flights to be cancelled.
The typhoon made landfall on Wednesday, slamming into the southeastern city of Taitung at about 1pm (05:00 GMT), passing through the southern tip of the island and then passing into the Taiwan Strait some five hours later, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.