Typhoon Soudelor made landfall in Taiwan this morning and killed at least six people, leaving more than a hundred people injured and four missing people.
"The six casualties included a mother and a child who had gone swimming near Suao in Yilan County before the typhoon arrived. Late Friday evening, a man in Suao was hit by a falling billboard, while early Saturday in Pingtung County, a fire fighter died after he was hit by a car as he was clearing debris from fallen trees," according to the Taiwan News.
The center of the storm made landfall in eastern Taiwan at 4:40 a.m. Saturday. By mid-morning, Soudelor was packing maximum sustained winds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said, according to the Associated Press.
Tom Sater, a CNN meteorologist, warned about the low-lying areas of Taiwan which are at risk of landslides, storm surges and even flooding. After Taiwan, Typhoon Soudelor will stir to mainland China, and by then, the storm is expected to weaken.
"Super Typhoon Soudelor is on its way to Japan's southern islands, Taiwan and then China. These typhoons and other tropical depression will most probably contribute to the stronger El Nino weather system that continues to develop in the Pacific, according to meteorologists. When it passed Saipan, Super Typhoon Soudelor, developed into the strongest storm of the year," according to a previous HNGN report.
