Taiwan braces for typhoon Mindulle
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan has issued land and sea warnings for Typhoon Mindulle -- the strongest storm to threaten the island this year -- which is set to brush past on Thursday.
The Central Weather Bureau said Mindulle is set to bring heavy rain to Taiwan's east and south and could cause landslides.
The system is packing sustained winds of 145 km (90 miles) with gusts of up to 180 km (112 miles) per hour.
At 0000 GMT Wednesday, Mindulle was 350 km (218 miles) south-southeast of Oluanpi, Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving slowly west-northwest at eight km (five miles) per hour.
If it stays on course, the eye of the storm would pass closest to Taiwan early Thursday, the bureau said.
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.
