The typhoon packed center winds of up to 184km per hour and gusts of up to 227km per hour, making landfall in the north-eastern county of Ilan in the afternoon, the Central Weather Bureau said.

The bureau said the typhoon was expected to dump up to 1,400 millimetres of rain on the island.

Local authorities moved more than 1,000 residents after the Council of Agriculture issued a warning for 247 areas likely to be threatened by mud- and rock-slides, officials said.

All international flights were cancelled or postponed from late afternoon, and passengers were advised to check with various airlines before going to the airport, officials said.

The government ordered local transport units to stand by to prepare to close 13 bridges with possibility of collapsing in the face of rushing waters.

Typhoon Sinlaku two weeks ago caused a section of a bridge to collapse. Except for one driver whose body was retrieved, authorities have yet to find five other people missing after their vehicles plunged into the river. Sinlaku also left Taiwan with 14 deaths and seven missing.

President Ma Ying-jeou Sunday instructed all government units to be on high alert to reduce any possible damage and casualties.

Jangmi is the sixth and strongest typhoon to Taiwan this season.

Last week, a typhoon that raged past Hong Kong was so powerful it spun a stationary jumbo jet around, officials at the city's international airport said today.

The Boeing Classic 747-200 cargo plane was rotated a full 90 degrees by the wind during the height of Typhoon Hagupit's Hong Kong landfall early last Wednesday.

The Ocean Airlines jet, now the property of a financier, has been left on a parking bay near the control tower of Hong Kong's airport since July 2007, shortly before the Italy-based airline went under.

Since then, three of the plane's four engines have been removed along with some of its fixtures and fittings, making it significantly lighter.

It survived several storms unscathed but the 170km per hour winds that came with Typhoon Hagupit proved too much and tore it out of the chocks holding it in place.

The spokeswoman said the Boeing had been spun around at 1.50 am last Wednesday morning "because of strong gusts of wind brought about by (Typhoon) Hagupit."

"The Airport Authority immediately sought assistance from a line maintenance operator to secure the aircraft and replace the broken chocks," she said. -- dpa