A strong typhoon has made landfall on Taiwan after torrential rain and high winds disrupted trains and flights for travellers heading home from a long holiday weekend.
Hundreds of thousands of households were without water and over a million experienced power outages, the Taiwanese government said, adding that 24 people were injured by Typhoon Dujuan so far, but no one was missing or killed.
Rock band Bon Jovi were forced to cancel a concert in the island's capital Taipei, and flood alerts were in effect through Tuesday morning (local time) prompting most cities across the island, including Taipei, to announce a typhoon holiday for Tuesday.
Taiwan's financial markets, including stocks, bonds and foreign exchange, will be shut on Tuesday, financial authorities announced.
As Typhoon Dujuan spun over the Pacific Ocean towards Taiwan, the island's trains suspended services, local bus and subway lines in Taipei stopped running, and hundreds of domestic and international flights were delayed or cancelled.
Television footage showed fast-moving muddy brown flood waters swamping roads just outside Taipei and huge waves crashing against the island's northeast coast.
Maximum wind speed near the centre of the typhoon and gusts were clocked above 200kmh, while the highest sea waves were estimated at over six metres, according to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau.
It said the typhoon lost some strength after making landfall and that the eye of the storm is due to enter the Taiwan Strait, the body of water between Taiwan and China, as the storm heads toward China.
The Tropical Storm Risk website downgraded Dujuan to a Category 3 typhoon, from an earlier Category 4 status, and estimated it would lose strength on Tuesday.
Offices and financial markets in Taiwan were shut on Monday, the last day of a three-day mid-autumn holiday.
In early August, super typhoon Soudelor killed eight people in Taiwan and cut power to more than 4 million households, a record for the island.
