Kaohsiung (Taiwan) (AFP) - Typhoon Krathon slammed into Taiwan on Thursday, bringing mudslides, flooding and destructive winds to the shuttered island where at least two people have died in the storm and thousands have been evacuated.

In southern Pingtung, the typhoon was hampering rescue efforts after a fire tore through a hospital, killing nine people.

Schools, offices and businesses across Taiwan were all shut for a second consecutive day as the wind toppled trees, knocked over motorcyclists and blew cargo containers from a pier.

“It feels like the end of the world. I haven’t seen such a severe typhoon in decades. It’s so big and scary,” Liu Chih-hsiang, 60, the owner of a moving company in the port city of Kaohsiung, told AFP.

“Our neighbour’s metal roof has been blown off,” he said.

Kaohsiung residents were instructed by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) to “take shelter ASAP” before Krathon made landfall there with wind gusts of 162 kilometres (100 miles) per hour.

The CWA later downgraded Krathon to a tropical storm but warned that it was still expected to bring strong wind across Taiwan and heavy rains in some regions.

The Kaohsiung city government said offices and schools would remain closed on Friday after torrential rain and strong winds cut electricity and water supplies and triggered flooding in some areas.

Around 11,000 people were evacuated by Thursday across Taiwan, according to the interior ministry.

The wind and rain attributed to Krathon left at least two people dead, one missing and nearly 500 injured, the National Fire Agency said.

A 70-year-old man was rushed to hospital on Tuesday after he fell while trimming trees in eastern Hualien county and died the next day.

A 66-year-old man, hospitalised in nearby Taitung on Monday after his truck hit a huge rock that had fallen onto the road, also died on Wednesday.

Krathon has brought air traffic to a halt, with all domestic flights suspended and around 260 international flights cancelled.

“We have to stay at least two or three days longer, plan accordingly,” Chan Ka-woh, a waylaid tourist from Malaysia said from Kaohsiung airport on Wednesday.

- Mudslides, storm surge -

Powerful waves pounded the coast of Pingtung county, with seawater spilling onto a road and causing it to collapse in two places, TV footage showed.

The bad weather was making rescue operations more difficult after a deadly blaze broke out at a Pingtung hospital on Thursday, authorities said.

In New Taipei city in the island’s north, where rain and wind were intensifying, a mudslide sent a large rock tumbling onto a temple, partially smashing its roof, local news outlet SET TV reported.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October but scientists have warned climate change is increasing their intensity, leading to heavy rains, flash floods and strong gusts.

In July, Gaemi became the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in eight years, killing at least 10 people, injuring hundreds and triggering widespread flooding in Kaohsiung.

Krathon reached Taiwan after first blasting a remote group of Philippine islands, leaving one dead, one missing and eight injured, as well as damaging over 300 houses, according to the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.