台湾南部暴雨致停课停班和铁路扰动，但台积电称台湾各厂正常运行

Four people are missing after torrential rain lashed southern and eastern Taiwan on Monday, ​closing offices and schools, with authorities bracing for a typhoon ‌to hit the island later in the week.

A low-pressure system has hovered over southern Taiwan for the past few days, bringing heavy rain and causing flooding.

The ​local governments of the two cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan, ​home to more than four million people, ordered offices and ⁠schools closed, as did the counties of Pingtung and Chiayi ​and the mountainous eastern counties of Taitung and Hualien.

The Kaohsiung government said ​it expected cumulative rainfall over the five-day period of the low-pressure system to exceed 1.3 metres (4.3 feet), nearly half what the city typically expects in an entire ​year.

Taiwan's fire department said four people were missing in the floodwaters - ​three in Hualien and one in Tainan.

TSMC (2330.TW), the world's largest contract chipmaker, said ‌in ⁠a statement it had completed routine heavy rain preparation procedures at all its Taiwan factories, which were operating normally.

TSMC has factories in both Tainan and Kaohsiung, and is building new facilities in Chiayi country.

Taiwan Railway ​said there would ​be disruptions on ⁠the main east coast line and trains to and from Kaohsiung and Taitung with express services cancelled ​and local trains dependent on weather conditions.

"If you've got ​nothing ⁠on, for goodness sake don't go out," Taitung county chief April Yao wrote on her Facebook page.

Taiwan's Central Weather Administration said separately that Typhoon ⁠Saudel, ​currently heading towards Japan's southern Okinawa region, ​is expected to pass by the northern part of Taiwan early on Friday before reaching ​the eastern coast of China.