Taiwan Braces for Arrival of Typhoon Soudelor. Taiwan prepared on Friday for the arrival of a typhoon, which had weakened somewhat but was still likely to batter the island’s eastern coast with heavy rains and powerful winds.
The Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan issued a typhoon warning, and the storm, Soudelor, had sustained wind speeds of 107 miles per hour and gusts of up to 130 m.p.h. Offices and schools were closed on Friday in the eastern counties of Yilan and Hualien, and scheduled to be cancelled across the entire island by Friday evening.
The storm had registered as the world’s most powerful this year, with gusts approaching 200 m.p.h. on Monday and Tuesday as it blew across the western Pacific Ocean.
On Sunday and Monday it hit Saipan, part of the United States territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, flipping cars and toppling trees. No deaths were reported.
