Typhoon Matmo pounded Taiwan with fierce winds and downpours earlier today leaving five people injured, shuttering financial markets, and interrupting rail and air transportation.
Matmo, packing gusts of up to 173 kilometres (107 miles) per hour, slammed into the east overnight, becoming the first tropical storm to make landfall on the island this year, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The storm´s powerful winds tore off roofs and uprooted trees, including one in Taipei that crashed into a taxi, injuring its driver and a passenger.
Three other people were also injured in the capital.