<p>Typhoon Soudelor battered Taiwan with fierce winds and rain today leaving four people dead and a trail of devastation before heading for mainland China.<br /><br /></p>.<p>After making landfall on the east coast in the early hours of the morning it swept across central Taiwan ripping up trees, snapping wind turbines and triggering a landslide in one remote village in the northern region of Taoyuan.<br /><br />All of the villagers had been evacuated in advance.<br /><br />"Flash mudslides surged into the village. About 10 of the homes were half buried but people were evacuated last night and are in safe shelters," a spokesman for Taoyuan fire agency told AFP.<br /><br />Almost 700,000 homes remained without power across Taiwan with torrential rains leaving some areas waist-deep in water.<br /><br />The typhoon was pushing through central Taiwan towards the mainland Chinese province of Fujian, where 158,000 people have already been evacuated.<br /><br />Authorities said four people had died in the storm including a firefighter in southern Pintung county and a man in the coastal town of Suao who was hit by a falling billboard.<br /><br />An eight-year-old girl and her mother had become the first casualties when they were swept out to sea and died as the storm approached.<br /><br />Thousands have been evacuated, with 1,300 people in temporary shelters across the island. All schools and workplaces were shut today.<br /><br />The typhoon made landfall in the town of Hsiulin in eastern Hualien county at 4:40 am today (2040 GMT Friday) before zigzagging across the centre of the island.<br /><br />Tatung township in eastern Yilan saw the most rain, with more than a metre falling since Thursday.<br /><br />There was widespread flooding across the county after coastal homes were hit by towering waves.<br /><br />"I've never seen such a powerful typhoon in my 60 years of life," one elderly woman in eastern Taitung told Formosa TV.<br /><br />The strongest winds were in Suao, where gusts reached 237 kilometres per hour, the weather bureau said.<br /><br />At least 80 international flights have been cancelled and high-speed rail services were halted.<br /><br />As the storm moved west it snapped turbines and brought down 65-metre-high towers at a wind farm in Taichung, images on the Apple Daily website showed.<br /><br />More than 4,000 people were evacuated as the storm approached, including 2,000 tourists who were pulled out of the popular outlying Green Island and Orchid Island. <br /></p>
<p>Typhoon Soudelor battered Taiwan with fierce winds and rain today leaving four people dead and a trail of devastation before heading for mainland China.<br /><br /></p>.<p>After making landfall on the east coast in the early hours of the morning it swept across central Taiwan ripping up trees, snapping wind turbines and triggering a landslide in one remote village in the northern region of Taoyuan.<br /><br />All of the villagers had been evacuated in advance.<br /><br />"Flash mudslides surged into the village. About 10 of the homes were half buried but people were evacuated last night and are in safe shelters," a spokesman for Taoyuan fire agency told AFP.<br /><br />Almost 700,000 homes remained without power across Taiwan with torrential rains leaving some areas waist-deep in water.<br /><br />The typhoon was pushing through central Taiwan towards the mainland Chinese province of Fujian, where 158,000 people have already been evacuated.<br /><br />Authorities said four people had died in the storm including a firefighter in southern Pintung county and a man in the coastal town of Suao who was hit by a falling billboard.<br /><br />An eight-year-old girl and her mother had become the first casualties when they were swept out to sea and died as the storm approached.<br /><br />Thousands have been evacuated, with 1,300 people in temporary shelters across the island. All schools and workplaces were shut today.<br /><br />The typhoon made landfall in the town of Hsiulin in eastern Hualien county at 4:40 am today (2040 GMT Friday) before zigzagging across the centre of the island.<br /><br />Tatung township in eastern Yilan saw the most rain, with more than a metre falling since Thursday.<br /><br />There was widespread flooding across the county after coastal homes were hit by towering waves.<br /><br />"I've never seen such a powerful typhoon in my 60 years of life," one elderly woman in eastern Taitung told Formosa TV.<br /><br />The strongest winds were in Suao, where gusts reached 237 kilometres per hour, the weather bureau said.<br /><br />At least 80 international flights have been cancelled and high-speed rail services were halted.<br /><br />As the storm moved west it snapped turbines and brought down 65-metre-high towers at a wind farm in Taichung, images on the Apple Daily website showed.<br /><br />More than 4,000 people were evacuated as the storm approached, including 2,000 tourists who were pulled out of the popular outlying Green Island and Orchid Island. <br /></p>