Typhoon Toraji swept across Taiwan yesterday leaving as many as 35 people dead, 108 missing and more than 340,000 without electricity, as of press time last night.
Agricultural and forestry losses were estimated at more than NT$700 million, officials said yesterday.
PHOTO: CHOU LI-LAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Toraji -- the eighth typhoon this year and the second to make landfall -- had been losing strength since midnight last night after making landfall in Hualien County and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
Nevertheless, before it left Hsinchu County at 10:20am yesterday -- whirling its way across eastern and northern Taiwan -- the storm's heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods in Hualien and Nantou County.
In Hualien County, 21 people were reported dead, 43 missing and 80 more stranded, according to the National Fire Administration.
Eighteen villagers in Kuangfu township's Tahsing village were buried in their houses underneath mudslides.
Two police officers were killed during an inspection trip of Kuangfu village. One of the bodies was found in the pair's patrol car, which was buried in mud in the riverbed of Chianung Creek.
Agricultural losses there were estimated at more than NT$100 million, according to the Council of Agriculture (
In Nantou County, 11 people were reported dead, 18 injured, 49 missing and more than 10,000 stranded. More than 54,000 families were left without electricity.
Over a dozen television reporters and cameramen from three cable-TV stations were stranded in a mountainous area of Shueili township, Nantou County. The national search and rescue center was waiting for rains to subside in order to dispatch helicopters.
Nantou County Commissioner Peng Pai-hsien (
Traffic over Hsinyi Bridge and Aikuo Bridge in Nantou County was disrupted after the two bridges were knocked down by flash flooding.
In Changhua County, one person was reported dead, one missing and 14 others stranded, according to the National Fire Administration.
In Chiayi County, two people were missing and about 900 people were stranded near Ali Mountain. Traffic on six different freeways leading to Ali Mountain was disrupted.
In Pingtung County, 10 farmers were stranded after Laonung Creek and Kaoping Creek rose sharply. The farmers were later airlifted or taken by boat to safer ground.
More than 300 families were left without electricity and access to the outside world in Tewen village, Pingtung County. As of press time, the county government was still trying to reopen roads buried under mud.
Although no casualties were reported in Taipei City, the city's fire department dispatched 50 people from its search and rescue squads to help in Nantou County's relief efforts, in response to a request from the National Fire Administration.
Air traffic was disrupted as airlines canceled most of their domestic and international flights. Trains running between Taipei and central and southeastern Taiwan were also canceled.
The Environmental Protection Administration yesterday said that the quality of tap water might be affected by Toraji, and reminded the public of the importance of boiling tap water.
Administration officials said that boiling water for three minutes longer than usual with the pot lid off would enable the chlorine added to tap water to vaporize completely.
The officials also warned the public to promptly empty containers on their property that might have filled with rainwater. Accumulated water makes it easier for mosquitoes -- carriers of diseases such as dengue fever -- to breed, the administration said.
Also See Stories:
Nantou battles flood, mudslides
Hualien residents call it `worst ever'
Panicky Taipower reduces output at the nation's nuclear three power plants
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS