Thousands evacuated as Typhoon Haikui heads for Taiwan

Thousands of people were evacuated in Taiwan ahead of Typhoon Haikui, with hundreds of flights cancelled and businesses closed as authorities prepared Sunday for the first tropical storm to directly hit the island in four years. Haikui — which had already brought heavy rains by Sunday morning — is expected to make landfall by 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) in Taitung, a mountainous county in lesser-populated eastern Taiwan. The storm was around 180 kilometres (110 miles) east of Taiwan just before 9:00 am, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said in a press conference. “It is expected to pose a considerable threat to…