Typhoon Songda heads for Taiwan

[senorpepr]

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon is heading towards Taiwan and could hit the island within days, the weather bureau says.

If Typhoon Songda maintains its course, it will be the third storm to strike in a month and bring more chaos to Taiwan, which still repairing the damage from Typhoons Aere and Rananim.

Songda has sustained winds of 175 kph (109 miles) and gusts of up to 210 kph (130 miles) per hour, the bureau said.

"As it slowly approaches Taiwan's eastern waters, it could very likely pose a serious threat to shipping," a forecaster at the Central Weather Bureau told reporters in remarks carried by the local TVBS station on Friday.

"We may issue a sea warning on Saturday evening or early on Sunday morning."

Songda is likely to bring heavy rain and strong winds similar to that of Typhoon Aere, which ripped past Taiwan last week, causing landslides and flooding that claimed 14 lives and left another 15 people missing, according to official estimates.

Rananim killed 164 people in eastern China last month. The storm left five people missing and believed dead, and injured 33 in Taiwan.

Songda was moving west at 19 kph (12 miles) and could swing northwest as it closes in on the island, officials said.

August is typhoon season in the western Pacific. Typhoons gather strength from warm sea waters and tend to dissipate after making landfall, frequently hitting Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and southern China.

In 2001, one of Taiwan's deadliest years for storms, Typhoon Toraji killed 200 people. A few months later, Typhoon Nari caused Taipei's worst flooding on record and killed 100 people.

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