A so-called Typhoon Day has been declared, meaning all schools, offices and businesses have closed their doors.

Graton has slowly been making its way around Taiwan's southwestern coast and is expected to swing northeast across the island.

It's now likely to make landfall on Wednesday night at the earliest, later than earlier predictions before hovering over the country for a few days.

Extreme rain warnings are in place in 15 counties and cities, especially along the south and east coasts.

Twenty-two roads or bridges are closed and over a hundred landslide warnings are in place in Hualien County on Taiwan's mountainous east.

Around the country, dozens of people have been reported injured and one person is missing.

Flights have also been cancelled to outlying islands, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.

Meanwhile, the crew from a Barbados-registered ship that flooded in the outer current of Typhoon Graton has been rescued, but an investigation is ongoing into oil that may have spilled from the ship.

While the typhoon is expected to weaken as it crosses Taiwan, officials are still warning of the potential for deadly floods and landslides.

Rick Glauert is live for us in the southern city of Tainan, where the storm is expected to make landfall.

Rick, how are things looking down there in Tainan?

Well, this is the harbour front of Anping, the ancient port district of Tainan.

Wind, rain picking up here, but it's the water level of the harbours and rivers that are concerning the 70,000 residents of this district, many people living just metres away from the water.

We spent the morning with this district's chief.

He talked us through some of the preparations they're making as Typhoon Graton barrels towards this region.

They've deployed 12 pumps to take water out of drains to prevent roads from flooding.

They've put barriers and sandbags over the front of underground car parks and houses to prevent them from flooding.

And in this district alone, for 70,000 people, they've set up 16 evacuation centres in places like schools and community centres should people need to flee their homes.

This typhoon coming just a couple of months after the deadly typhoon Kemi, many people saying that lessons were learned there and the city officials we've been spending time with saying that they're confident in their preparations to keep this city safe.

But this is a rare typhoon, both in its intensity and in its direction.

It's hitting Taiwan, not from the mountainous east, but from the west, hitting large urban centres like the city of Tainan.

There's also concerns that as the typhoon approaches the coast, that low pressure could cause a storm surge, increasing the risk of flooding.

So many preparations here in Tainan, but some of them still untested.