THE typhoon Gemi passed from the north Taiwan today, leaving behind two dead and Injuring 266, causing widespread flooding and wrecking a cargo ship offshore, before heading to mainland China where it is expected to bring torrential rain.

Gemi had already left others behind 6 dead at Philippines before it moves before it hits Taiwan.

Gemi arrived at midnight (local time; 19:00 yesterday Wednesday Greek time), on the northeastern coast of Taiwan, in Yilan County. It was the strongest typhoon to hit the island in eight years and was accompanied by winds of up to 227 kilometers per hour, according to Taiwan’s meteorological agency.

The typhoon caused a power outage that affected around half a million households, but most of it has been restored, according to the Taipower company.

According to the island’s fire department, a Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship with a crew of nine Myanmar nationals sank off Kaohsiung, a port in southern Taiwan, and the sailors have not been contacted since.

Search and rescue operations are underway, according to the same source.

Offices, schools and financial services, including money markets, remain closed today. Most trains will resume running after 15:00 (10:00 Greek time), while all domestic flights and 185 flights to and from international airports have been canceled or postponed.

Alert in China

At around 08:30 (04:00 Greek time) it was now in the Taiwan Strait and headed for Fuzhou, in the Fujian province of mainland China.

In China, where Gemi is expected to lash Fujian province with torrential rains later in the day, before moving north and gradually weakening over land in the next few hours, some 150,000 people have been rushed from their homes.