THE anticipated arrival of Typhoon Haikui forced hundreds of flights to get canceled, businesses closed, and almost 3,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm.
Typhoon Haikui brought heavy rains after it made landfall on Sunday in Taitung— a mountainous county in lesser-populated eastern Taiwan.
Authorities said they had evacuated more than 2,800 people across seven cities— the majority of them coming from Hualin—neighbors of Taitung.
The military deployed soldiers and equipment around the parts of Taiwan where the tropical storm is expected to have the heaviest impact.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen reminded the public to be vigilant and to avoid going to the coast or engaging in fishing activities and water sports.
Despite the tropical storm being forecasted to be a considerable threat, it is a much weaker storm than Typhoon Saola which hit Hong Kong and the Southern Chinese Province of Guangdong on Saturday.
Typhoon Bailu was the last major storm to hit Taiwan in 2019, which left one person dead.