Meranti: Strongest super typhoon of the year barrels toward China, Taiwan

Hong Kong-(CNN)Hundreds of people have been evacuated in southern Taiwan and China has issued a red alert as the region braces for the impact of the strongest storm of the year.
Super Typhoon Meranti is barreling down on Taiwan, bringing wind speeds of up to 230 miles per hour (370 kph), faster than a Formula One race car, and torrential rains.
Schools and offices across the south of the island have closed and dozens of flights have been canceled, according to the official China News Agency.
Four people have been injured, and more than 70,000 households have lost power in counties across southern Taiwan, according to the Taiwan Red Cross.
As of 7 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, around 1,500 people had been evacuated from the affected areas, Li Wei-sen, of the Taiwan Central Emergency Operating Center, told CNN.
Almost 4,000 military and police personnel have been deployed to the region to prepare for potential future evacuations, but he said authorities are not expecting major damage or destruction.

China braces for impact

While the 23 million people in Taiwan are likely to be buffeted and soaked by Meranti, the main brunt of the storm will fall on mainland China. The storm is expected to make landfall in Guangdong or Fujian provinces during the day on Thursday.
Authorities in six south-eastern provinces as well as Shanghai have initiated emergency response measures as the storm approaches, according to state run news agency Xinhua.
If the storm makes landfall in eastern Guangdong, it could be the strongest to hit the province in 47 years, Xinhua reported.
"It only took nine hours for Meranti to grow into a super typhoon from a typhoon," Guangdong meteorologist Zhang Dong told the news agency.
"Packing winds between 202 to 220 kilometers per hour, it is interacting with another storm, Malakas, 1,000 kilometers away, and the route could be hard to predict."
China's National Meteorological Center issued a red typhoon warning at 6 a.m. local time Wednesday, while authorities warned that waves eight to 13 meters (26 to 42 feet) high could be expected in the northeastern part of the South China Sea.
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