Taiwan's coastline ravaged by super typhoon Nepartak

A super typhoon known as Nepartak has hit the eastern coast of Taiwan on Friday morning, leaving vast swathes of destruction in its path.

Thousands have been displaced from their homes due to the natura disaster, with the Taiwan Central News Agency reporting at least 69 injured, one of those critically.

The central weather bureau for the country says that it expects the storm to linger for about eight hours, with heavy flooding expected in addition to winds of up to 234km/h.

“The wind is very strong,” one Taitung resident, who gave her name only as Cheng, told Reuters. “Many hut roofs and signs on the street have been blown off.”

It is expected to unleash torrential rain across the country, with some regions reportedly receiving 500mm on rainfall - potentially leading to landslides in mountainous areas.

Financial markets in Taiwan closed on Friday in advance of the approaching typhoon, as well as the announcement of cancelling and rerouting flights from the country's main airports.

A further natural disaster in China's north-western region of Xinjiang caused the deaths of 35 people during a landslide in a village in the Kunlun mountains.

As China braced for the arrival of super typhoon Nepartak, a senior Communist party official warned that the country “should be on high alert for river floods and disasters including mountain torrents and landslides”.

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