Maria typhoon dabbles in China after defeating Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Typhoon Maria injured two people in Taiwan and urged more than 3,000 people to be moved to shelters before landing in China, authorities said Wednesday. The storm fell Tuesday in the capital Taipei, north of the mountainous island of 23 million residents.

The center said 3,430 people evacuated their homes in nine cities and counties by Wednesday. In 1965, typhoon Morakot killed nearly 700 people in Taiwan, including about 400 when their village was destroyed by floods and landslides.

The central government issued red alerts for landslides. Two mountain villages in Hsinchu County in northwestern Taiwan, starting Wednesday. Seven cities and counties ordered work and school closures for the day

The typhoon also caused the cancellation of 138 international flights and 170 domestic flights. Its wind speeds reached 191 kilometers (119 miles) per hour.

Across the Taiwan Strait, schools and factories in the coastal areas of Fujian Province of China are closed. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated to shelters and thousands of fishing boats returned to the port

Typhoons normally hit Taiwan, China, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam from June to November of each year . They are formed when tropical depressions accumulate in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean or the South China Sea, before weakening on the hills of southeastern China and southeastern China. Southeast Asia

. closures of popular tourist destinations of Mount Emei and Jiuzhaigou. The roads were blocked by landslides, but there was no word about major injuries or injuries.