The nation was busy assessing and cleaning up the damage and losses inflicted by Typhoon Krosa yesterday, with transportation authorities striving to restore road access to several remote areas.
Figures released by the National Disasters and Prevention Commission at 5pm yesterday confirmed that five people were killed and 56 injured during the storm.
Two people were still listed as missing yesterday.
In Taipei, rescuers using bulldozers found the body of 60-year-old Chiu Chang-chi (
A 79-year-old Hsinchu man fell to his death from a roof, while a cook was buried alive by landslides at a hostel where he worked, it said.
Television images showed rescuers using shovels and bulldozers to rescue the cook, but rescuers said they feared he was dead.
In Ilan County, which bore the brunt of the powerful typhoon, a man was washed away by flash floods on Saturday. His body was recovered yesterday morning.
A 50-year-old woman died when her motorcycle hit a road sign, the commission said.
Meanwhile, the Central Weather Bureau said that Krosa had been downgraded from a typhoon into a tropical storm.
The bureau lifted the land warning for Krosa at 5:30pm.
By 8:30pm, Krosa's center had made landfall in China near the border of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. The storm was moving northeast at 14kph, packing sustained winds of 72kph and gusts of 101kph, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
Xinhua news agency claimed more than 1 million people were evacuated in the two provinces ahead of the storm. Authorities shut airports in the region and ordered schools closed for today Monday as a precaution.
Despite the weakening of the storm, the bureau warned of more downpours that could cause further flooding and landslides.
As of 6pm, roadcrews from the Directorate General of Highways were repairing 22 provincial highways in Ilan, Miaoli, Hualien, Taoyuan, Taitung, Kaohsiung, Chiayi, Taichung, Nantou, Taipei, Hsinchu and Yunlin counties.
Two county highways and four township roads also needed repairs.
The Taiwan Railway Administration was able to restore access to 14 railway sections. However, the Alishan Forest Rail, as well as the Pingsi (
The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp resumed operations at 11am.
The Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was filled with people whose flights were canceled on Saturday. Some faced a longer wait yesterday as more flights were canceled
The Civil Aeronautics Administration said that as of 6pm, 59 international flights and 214 domestic flights had been canceled, including charter flights between Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Shipping between Kinmen and Xiamen was unaffected yesterday, but connections to outlying islands were canceled.
A lack of flights and ships forced 511 tourists to stay in Penghu County for another day yesterday.
More than 500 households were still without water at press time, while 72,000 households were still without electricity and approximately 2,200 home phone lines were out of commission.
Close to 2,450 people in Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Yunlin and Ilan counties had to evacuate their homes because of the storm. About 180 of them were placed in shelters.
RSS