Taiwan is no stranger to typhoons, but Toraji and Nari caught the nation with its pants down.
Typhoon Toraji, which hovered over Taiwan in late July, triggered heavy landslides and flash floods throughout Hualien and Nantou Counties and claimed at least 35 lives.
Blackouts hit hundreds of thousands of households and left hundreds of residents homeless as their houses were flooded or buried in mudslides.
Roads, railways and bridges were also destroyed by the storm.
According to the Council of Agriculture, Toraji cost the forestry and agriculture industries more than NT$700 million.
Typhoon Nari, which ravaged the nation between Sept. 16 and Sept. 19, caused the worst flooding in northern Taiwan's history. The typhoon killed 94 people throughout the country, including 27 in Taipei City. Livestock losses were estimated at more than NT$55 million and over 70 hectares of paddy fields were submerged.
Nari's heavy rainfall wreaked havoc on the Taipei area, which suffered its worst flooding in five decades.
More than 4,000 basements across the city were flooded, including the MRT's control center.
The flooding damaged vital equipment and paralyzed the operations of the MRT. Only the Mucha line -- which is constructed entirely above ground -- was spared. The MRT only resumed full operations this month.
According to the National Fire Administration, waters in some parts of Hsihchih township in Taipei County rose three-stories high and the flooding was one-story high in some areas of Keelung City.
In Taipei City serious flooding affected the Neihu, Wenshan, Shihlin, Nankang, Hsinyi and Chungshan districts.
Nari left more than 800,000 Taipei-area families without electricity and another 300,000 without telephone service.
RSS