Typhoon hits Taiwan, heads towards China

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A typhoon hit Taiwan on Thursday night, lashing the coasts with high winds and heavy rain as the government issued land and sea warnings ahead of the island's first major storm of the year. Typhoon Kalmaegi made landfall in sparsely populated Ilan County at 1340 GMT with sustained winds reaching 108 kph (67 mph) and gusts of 126 kph, the island's Central Weather Bureau and local TV reports said. Storm-tracker Tropical Storm Risk listed Kalmaegi as a category 2 typhoon on a 1-5 scale with 5 the most severe and said it would grow to a category 3 storm by mid-Friday. On Friday the typhoon will move north towards China, hitting the coast of Zhejiang province, Tropical Storm Risk said on its website, www.tropicalstormrisk.com. Taiwan's weather bureau issued wind and rain warnings for greater Taipei, the northern... [read full story]