Typhoon Whirls To Okinawa, Taiwan

A powerful typhoon neared Japan's Okinawan islands Wednesday and headed for Taiwan, with strong winds and heavy rain forcing residents into shelters, causing blackouts and halting transportation.

Typhoon Sinlaku had surface winds of 89 mph and was 50 miles east of Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture state, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

It was expected to hit Okinawa's larger islands Wednesday night and Taiwan early Thursday.

The typhoon comes on the heels of another cyclone that ravaged Korea, leaving at least 184 people dead or missing. Rusa, the Malaysian word for deer, was the worst typhoon to hit South Korea since 1959, when Sarah killed more than 840.

The cleanup from that disaster continued Wednesday.

Villages remained swamped in waist-high water, and soldiers were mobilized to provide supplies. The government's anti-disaster center said 119 people were confirmed killed and 65 others missing following the weekend storm.

Property damage was estimated at $1.4 billion.

Sinlaku was not expected to cause as much devastation, officials said, and it was not likely to cross over Tokyo or the other more heavily populated parts of Japan's main island.

It was not expected to hit Korea, but instead was on a more southern course for the Chinese coast.

As the storm crossed Japan's outlying southern islands Wednesday, dozens of residents on Minami Daitojima were evacuated to safer areas. Rains from Sinlaku flooded the island's streets, Japan's public broadcaster NHK said.

By the late evening, three women had suffered minor injuries when they were knocked down by strong winds and 2,900 homes on Okinawa were without electricity, NHK said.

A total of 128 flights connecting Naha with other Okinawan islands and Japanese cities were canceled Wednesday, airport officials said.

Telephones poles had also been pushed over by strong winds and one had crashed into a roof though no one was injured, Okinawa police spokesman Hiroaki Matsugawa said.

In Taiwan, the air force halted training flights for F-16 jets at a base in southeastern city of Hualien.

As officials issued a sea warning, people began to prepare for the worst. ETTV cable news showed students in the flood-prone northern city of Hsichih moving boxes of books and desks to their grade school's second floor.

Last year, typhoon Toraji triggered landslides and floods that killed about 200 people in central and eastern Taiwan.

The Japanese weather agency predicted up to 11 inches of rain and warned of possible mudslides and flooding.

Sinlaku is named after the Micronesian goddess of breadfruit.