Taipei [Taiwan], October 7: Typhoon Koinu brought heavy rains and strong winds to Taiwan, leaving about 330,000 households without electricity and causing one death and injuries, authorities said on Thursday.
Koinu was passing over southern Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The storm would continue to affect Taiwan until Friday, when it heads towards south-eastern China.
CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua told a news conference that a monitoring station in Lanyu, or Orchid Island, in eastern Taiwan, showed a record high wind gust late on Wednesday with a speed of 95.2 metres per second. The wind gust surpassed the previous record of 89.8 metres per second in 1984 in Lanyu.
At least 304 people were injured due to accidents, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC). Local governments had reported 2,868 accidents, including more than 1,500 involving fallen trees and shop signs.
In Taichung City in central Taiwan, a woman, 84, died on Thursday due to massive bleeding in an accident involving broken glass in her house, which was damaged by strong wind and heavy rains, according to the CEOC.
In Lanyu, many buildings near the seaside were seriously damaged. Most boats were capsized, leaving the port a mess, state-run Central News Agency reported on Thursday with images and video.
On Thursday, near 3,000 residents remained evacuated from their homes in disaster-prone areas.
Local media showed images of fallen power lines and trees in affected areas in southern and eastern Taiwan. Some tin houses were torn apart.
Many schools and offices were closed on Thursday and more than 220 international and domestic flights were cancelled. Train services in the mountains and in flood-prone areas in eastern Taiwan were suspended. Ferry services connecting the island of Taiwan and offshore islets have been suspended since Tuesday.
Taiwan, which sits in the West Pacific between Japan and the Philippines, is prone to typhoon activities.
Source: Qatar Tribune