Typhoon to bring heavy rain to China, Taiwan rushes aid to remote island

Heavy rainstorms and strong winds will hit southern China in the next three days as Typhoon Koinu approaches the coast of Guangdong province after killing one and injuring hundreds in Taiwan, which was rushing aid to a remote and hard-hit island.

Typhoon Koinu, which means "puppy" in Japanese, will bring heavy rain along the coasts of Guangdong and neighbouring Fujian province in the next three days, China's National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said.

The NMC said rainfall in Guangdong could reach more than 300 millimetres. It also issued a yellow alert for strong winds, the third highest in a four-coloured warning system.

Koinu killed one person and injured almost 400 people in Taiwan, causing some of the most extensive damage on remote Orchid Island off the east coast and home to around 5,000 people, although no one was injured on the island.

More than 70 boats were overturned or sunk in a harbour on the island, two schools were seriously damaged and power cut due to the typhoon.

Government and air force helicopters flew in engineers to restore electricity and telecommunications on Friday, though the first boats with supplies are not due to arrive on Orchid Island until Saturday morning. Civilian flights remain suspended.

"The situation is very bad, roads broken, cannot pump fuel and cannot buy anything from the convenience store, no food stocks and water. So everyone is collecting rain water for cooking," Orchid Island restaurant owner Judy Chiu told Reuters.

China's Guangdong province has suspended dozens of ferry routes since late Thursday and the NMC warned tourists to stay away from beach resorts on the last day of a week-long national holiday on Friday.

Koinu was travelling around 144 kph (89 mph) off the coast of the southern Guangdong city of Shanwei as of 8 a.m. on Friday, said the NMC, slowing down from the 252 kph (156mph) on Thursday in Taiwan.

The typhoon is expected to weaken into a strong tropical storm from late Friday and grow weaker as it heads west along China's southern coast, it said: