Typhoon Hagupit, 410km southeast of Taiwan at 0030 GMT (8.30am Singapore time), was expected to brush Taiwan and parts of the Philippines overnight, bringing sustained winds of up to 144kmh and gusts of up to 180kmh.

Taiwan issued warnings for high winds and heavy rain.

The storm is expected to grow to category 3, on a 1-5 severity scale, according to the forecasting service Tropical Storm Risk, and reach southern China, including Hong Kong, by Wednesday.

A typhoon last week killed 12 people in Taiwan from mudslides, raging waters and a collapsed bridge. On July 18, a typhoon killed at least 20 people and caused extensive flooding, landslides and crop damage.

'This isn't anything abnormal,' Taiwan Central Weather Bureau forecasting centre section head Hsieh Ming-chang said. 'Taiwan is just close to where typhoons develop.'

Typhoons regularly hit China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan from August until the end of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific or the South China Sea before weakening over land. -- REUTERS