Taiwan is bracing for a powerful storm that's barreling toward it across the Pacific.
Typhoon Soudelor is expected to slam into Taiwan's eastern coast at around 8 a.m. local time Saturday, bringing fierce winds and torrential rain. Earlier this week, Soudelor became the strongest storm on the planet so far this year, with peak winds at 180 mph (290 kph), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
The storm has lost some of its earlier force, but its maximum sustained winds when it makes landfall are still forecast to be around 125 mph (200 kph), the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
Authorities in Taiwan are preparing for Soudelor, deploying more than 35,000 military personnel to help relocate residents of vulnerable areas.
