Tens of thousands of homes lost power across Taiwan as the island was hit by super-typhoon Meranti, forcing schools and businesses to close and leading to flight cancellations.
As of 7 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, around 1,500 people had been evacuated from the affected areas.
Almost 4,000 military and police personnel have been deployed to the region to prepare for potential future evacuations, The super Typhoon has become the strongest cyclone, hurricane or typhoon, of 2016 and is one of three most powerful typhoons ever recorded.