About 250 international flights scheduled to land or take off at Taiwanese airports were canceled today, as Typhoon Podul approached Taiwan.
As of about 1:15pm, 91 flights were listed as canceled out of a total of about 1,000 international flights scheduled to arrive or depart from Taiwan's biggest airport that day, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport said.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, 152 flights due to land or take off from Kaohsiung International Airport were listed as canceled or delayed until the next day, out of a total of 171.
Most of the flights that were not canceled or delayed in Kaohsiung landed or took off relatively early this morning.
Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) also showed the cancelation of flights between China and Taipei operated by Chinese airlines, but other flights between Taipei and Tokyo or Seoul remained on schedule.
Travelers are advised to check the latest departures information before heading to the airport.
The cancelations come as the eye of Typhoon Podul made landfall in Taitung County's Taimali Township (太麻里) about 20km south-southwest of Taitung City at about 1pm, the Central Weather Administration said.
As of 1pm, the typhoon was moving west-northwest at a speed of 29kph and packing maximum sustained winds of 155kph, with gusts of up to 191kph.
Agency forecaster Liu Yu-chi (劉宇其) said the typhoon's storm radius has already enveloped Taitung, Hualien and Nantou counties, and areas south of Yunlin County, and he warned that the wind and rain is to intensify in Taitung, Hualien County, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.
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