The strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years yesterday killed three people and flooded parts of the nation’s second-biggest city, while rescuers were searching for nine sailors after their cargo ship sank in the storm.
Typhoon Gaemi transformed streets in Kaohsiung into rivers, with some households flooded. Offices and schools were closed for the second consecutive day, with thousands of people evacuated.
Three people died and 380 were injured due to strong winds and torrential rainfall brought by Typhoon Gaemi, the Central Emergency Response Center said.
Photo: Johnson Liu / AFP
The typhoon made landfall in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) at midnight yesterday and departed Taiwan proper at 4:20am.
The storm brought torrential rainfall to central and southern Taiwan.
Two people died on Wednesday — a 64-year-old woman in Kaohsiung and a 44-year-old woman in Hualien County, the center said at a briefing at 3pm yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The woman in Kaohsiung was crushed by a falling tree while riding a scooter, while the woman in Hualien was killed by a parapet that fell from a building while she was driving home from work, the center said.
The third person who died, whose age and sex were not disclosed, died after a mudslide hit their home in Kaohsiung’s Cishan District (旗山) yesterday, it said.
Torrential rainfall caused severe flooding in central and southern Taiwan, with the center issuing Level 1 flood alerts for Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Nantou, Chiayi and Pingtung counties.
Photo: CNA
From midnight on Tuesday to 5pm yesterday, Kaohsiung’s Maolin District (茂林) recorded accumulated rainfall of 1,600.5mm, the highest reading nationwide, Central Weather Administration data showed.
Stations in Pingtung County’s Weiliaoshan (尾寮山) and Chiayi County’s Shipanlong (石磐龍) recorded accumulated rainfall of 1,433mm and 1,277.5mm respectively, the data showed.
The National Fire Agency said it received a report early yesterday that a cargo ship had sunk off Taiwan’s southern coast, forcing its nine Burmese crew members to abandon the vessel in life jackets.
“They fell into the sea and were floating there,” National Fire Agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said, adding that a nearby Taiwanese cargo ship had been asked to assist in rescue efforts.
However, when the cargo ship arrived in the area, visibility was very low and the winds were too strong, negating the rescue, Hsiao said.
Rescue aircraft from Kaohsiung had joined the ongoing search, he told a news conference later yesterday.
As of 3pm yesterday, the center had received 8,300 reports of damage, with 3,638 of them related to fallen trees.
There were 1,505 reports of damage to power poles and other public infrastructure, 474 reports of damage to buildings and 404 reports about damage to billboards, the center said.
Meanwhile, 12,001 people from 15 administrative regions were evacuated as a preventive measure, with Pingtung County accounting for a large number of those moved, it said.
About 700,000 households reported power outages, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said, adding that the number is the fifth-largest ever recorded while Taiwan was under the influence of a typhoon.
Most homes were expected to have had power restored yesterday, it said.
Agricultural losses had topped NT$50.78 million (US$1.55 million) as of 3pm, the Ministry of Agriculture said, adding that most of the damaged crops were bananas, watermelons, leeks, chayote shoots and taros.
Hundreds of domestic and international flights were canceled because of the storm.
High-speed rail services would resume normal operations today, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp said.
Taiwan Railway Corp said that four sections of the North Railway Link and one section of the West Coast Line were severely damaged.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) asked Taiwan Railway to begin repairing the damage when it was safe to do so.
Rail services can only be resumed when there are no safety issues, Li said.
Additional reporting by AP
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