Typhoon Meranti makes landfall in East China. (Photo : Getty Images)
Typhoon Meranti lashed on the southeastern part of China with strong winds and rains on Thursday, leaving more than 1 million houses in a blackout.
This year's strongest typhoon with international name "Meranti" slammed on the Chinese coast early on Thursday after lashing on Taiwan before weakening, TIME reported.
According to the outlet, Typhoon Meranti which was downgraded from being a Super Typhoon weakened while treading its way to mainland China from Taiwan and is expected to cross the Middle Kingdom swiftly.
Meranti is now equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane after recording maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour or about 227 kilometers per hour.
According to China Daily, the typhoon left one fatality and 51 other injured casualties during its onslaught in southern Taiwan on Wednesday per an official report from the Central Emergency Operation Center in the island nation.
"It is the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in 21 years in terms of maximum sustained wind near the center," explained forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun as quoted by AFP (via BBC News).
After the onslaught, a total of 650,000 Taiwanese were left without electricity because electric poles were blown off and trees were uprooted by Meranti's strong winds.
After that, it lost its Super Typhoon status because it weakened before making a landfall at dawn near the Fujian capital of Xiamen.
In China, flights and scheduled train services were canceled due to the inclement weather, interrupting the country's celebration of the annual Mid-Autumn Festival.
It also prompted the Chinese government to release a red alert in Fujian where about 1.65 million homes had no electricity across the entire province. Around 320,000 these households were in Xiamen.
Typhoon Meranti is the strongest typhoon that hit China's Fujian Province ever recorded since 1949.
"The winds and rain got extremely loud after 3 a.m. The cracking sound of windows and tree branches were also scary. The power went out in the shop for several times," said Xiamen resident Su Binglin who works the night shift at a 24-hour convenience store in the area.
