Typhoon Bilis Moves in on Taiwan

T A I P E I, Taiwan, Aug. 22 -- Typhoon Bilis pounded Taiwan with powerful winds and heavy rains today, and workersshut offices and headed home early to prepare for more fierce weather.

One man was killed and another was missing, disaster response officials at the National Fire Administration said.

At 11:00 GMT, the storm’s center was about 93 miles southeast of the southeastern city of Taitung and bearing down on Taiwan at 14 miles per hour, the Central WeatherBureau said.

Packing sustained winds of 118 miles per hour and gusts of upto 93 miles per hour, Bilis is more powerful than Typhoon Zeb,which killed 31 people and injured 19 in 1998.

The diameter of Bilis is large enough to cover the island.

Typhoon rains caused a retaining wall to collapse on acontractor in Taipei county — the first person on the officialcasualty list.

A doctor mountain climbing in eastern Taiwan’s scenicTaroko Gorge was missing and rescue teams had started a search,an administration spokeswoman said.

She said officials had temporarily lost contact with eightmembers of a government documentary film crew in centralTaiwan’s Kaohsiung county.

Airline flights to southern Taiwan were cancelled and somecarriers called off all domestic flights.

International departures were moved forward and arrivalsdelayed in the hope of avoiding the worst of the storm.

Shelter for Chinese Fishermen

Port authorities bent the rules for about 1,000 mainlandChinese fishermen working aboard Taiwan vessels, allowing themto come on shore for shelter.

Taiwan law forbids fishermen from political rival Chinafrom setting foot on the island, and usually requires them toremain aboard ships moored at port during heavy weather.

The central bank called off afternoon trade in foreignexchange and money markets on today and said the marketswould stay closed on Wednesday.

Stock trading ended at the usual time, but officials say the stockmarket would be closed on Wednesday.