Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) on Thursday, has left seven dead, one missing and 785 injured since Wednesday, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.
The casualties announced by the center as of 2pm yesterday included two men who died in separate incidents, a 65-year-old in Tainan and a 75-year-old in Yunlin County.
The man in Tainan was taken to hospital after he had fallen doing home repair work, while the man in Yunlin, who was driving a scooter on his way home, was taken to hospital after he was hit by falling tree branches and crashed, the statement said.
Photo: CNA
Both men were later pronounced dead at the hospitals where they were treated, the center said.
The center ruled out the typhoon as the cause of the deaths of two other people, including a New Taipei City borough warden, who was found with no vital signs in an overturned excavator on Wednesday.
Kaohsiung reported the most injuries at 244, followed by 114 in Taichung and 94 in Tainan, the center said.
Photo courtesy of the Ocean Affairs Council
Typhoon Gaemi had also caused nine maritime incidents as of yesterday, including the sinking of a cargo ship and the death of its captain.
Four crew members from the Fu Shu, which is believed to have sunk 16 nautical miles (29.6km) off Kaohsiung, had identified a body pulled from the water as the Tanzanian-flagged vessel’s captain, the Ocean Affairs Council said in a statement.
However, four other personnel remain missing, the council added.
Meanwhile, cargo ships Dolphin and Keta ran aground on the southern and southwestern shores of the Zengwen River in southern Taiwan late Thursday, while the same happened to Hong Sheng 88 just northwest of Singda Harbor in Kaohsiung, the council said, adding that all crew members are safe and no oil spills have been reported, the council said.
Meanwhile nine Burmese crew from the Sopfia, which ran aground on the Golden Coast in Tainan, were rescued by the coast guard.
The council said that rescue operations, which were suspended due to weather and sea conditions, resumed at 5am yesterday.
Satellite images show no signs of oil pollution, it said, adding that local governments are ready with response materials and simulations are underway to manage potential oil spills.
Typhoon Gaemi has surpassed the record set by a tropical depression in 2018, which caused seven cargo ships and one yacht to run aground, council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
The council would continue coordinating with the Coast Guard Administration and related agencies for ongoing rescue efforts, Kuan said.
Heavy rain brought by Typhoon Gaemi has caused severe flooding across Taiwan, which continued in central and southern areas yesterday.
Torrential rain has also caused landslides, which cut off mountainous areas. More than 120 people were stranded in Lishan’s (梨山) Sinjiayang Aboriginal community (新佳陽部落) in Taichung’s Heping District (和平), with limited supplies and a partial power outage.
Supplies purchased by the Heping District Office would be delivered on foot, as roads to the area remain severed, Lishan Warden Lai Cheng-kung (賴盛功) said yesterday.
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