Super Typhoon Meranti rips through Taiwan

China on Wednesday issued the highest "red alert" and cancelled hundreds of flights and trains as it braced for violent gales and heavy rains accompanying Typhoon Meranti, which is expected to hit its southern coast.

As the sun came out Thursday morning, residents and journalists were assessing the damage. "Water was streaming into our rooms", CNN correspondent Matt Rivers said from Xiamen.

Offices and schools were shut down in Orchid Island from this afternoon while the defence ministry said it had ordered around 33,000 soldiers to be on standby.

Meranti's strength prompted China to issue its highest warning for high ocean waves as emergency crews and officials prepared for the deluge. Torrential rainfall, which frequently accumulates to over 3 feet (1 meter) over the mountainous terrain of central Taiwan during typhoons, can produce deadly flash floods and devastating mudslides.

Meranti is closing in on eastern China's Fujian Province.

The Super Typhoon Meranti is expected to give heavy rains of over 500 mm in south Taipei, especially over Kaohsiung.

It would have weakened slightly by then but would still be the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane.

School and work were cancelled for most eastern and southern counties, and the typhoon has knocked out power for almost 650,000 households. Taiwan Power Co., the state-run utility, estimated as many as 207,999 homes lost power on Wednesday.

There, official media say it could be the strongest in the area since 1969.

Nearly 4,000 military and police personnel were deployed to prepare for potential future evacuations, but he said authorities are not expecting major damage or destruction.

But the main brunt of the storm will fall on mainland China.

Emergency responses have been initiated by the authorities in six south-eastern provinces including Shanghai.

According to Weather.com, the rapidly intensifying Super Typhoon Meranti went from maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour to 180 mph in 24 hours, making it the strongest tropical cyclone in the Northern Hemisphere so far this year.

The meteorologists said Taiwan will feel the full force of the typhoon through Wednesday while on Thursday the storm will track through towards the northwest and move into China.

Li Mei, a meteorologist in eastern China's Fujian, said that Meranti is among the strongest typhoon to hit China in recent years.

Taiwan is a frequent target for powerful Pacific typhoons.

This will likely be the second deadly storm hit for this region in just weeks.

Stranded tourist stays inside a hotel to avoid the winds and rain from Super Typhoon Meranti in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Sept. 14, 2016. On July 8, Super Typhoon Nepartak hit the island in a similar way, causing three deaths and cutting power to over half a million people. A combination of flatter terrain that is prone to storm surge and inland flooding, higher population and more vulnerable living conditions often result in higher numbers of people killed and displaced by the storm.