Typhoon Lekima, which sideswiped northern Taiwan from late Thursday through early yesterday, and a strong earthquake on Thursday morning left two people dead, 11 injured and more than 3,000 homes without electricity overnight, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.
According to a situation report released by the center at 7pm yesterday, one of the casualties was a 64-year-old man who on Thursday fell to his death from a tree in Taipei while attempting to trim branches as a precautionary measure against the typhoon.
The other fatality was a woman in her 60s who was crushed by a fallen clothes rack, hangers and clothes at her house in New Taipei City when a magnitude 6 earthquake struck northeastern Taiwan, the report said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
An initial investigation found that she might have been knocked unconscious after being hit by the metal rack and hangers, and then suffocated under more than 100kg of clothes that smothered her face, it said.
Of the nine injuries, five happened in Taipei and two each in Yilan and Hualien counties, it added.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said that it was working around the clock to restore electricity to about 1,300 households after Typhoon Lekima caused blackouts in 80,457 homes.
Photo: CNA
As of 7pm yesterday, 1,333 households still did not have electricity, the state-run utility said, adding that 800 workers had been deployed to resolve the issue.
The areas affected by the blackout are in Taoyuan, as well as New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水), Jhonghe (中和) and Tucheng (土城) districts, Taipower said.
Lekima, the ninth Pacific typhoon this year, was about 270km north-northeast of Taipei as of 7pm yesterday, Central Weather Bureau data showed.
It was moving northwest toward China at 15kph, packing maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts of up to 209kph, the bureau said.
The bureau lifted its land warning for Lekima at 8:30pm yesterday.
Meanwhile, the amount of rainfall was expected to increase from yesterday evening through today, concentrated in mountainous areas in southern Taiwan and leading to the possibility of landslides, the center said.
The quality of water could be temporarily affected in Taipei, New Taipei City and central Taiwan, it added.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS