Taiwan | Typhoon Kong-rey kills two, injures more than 500

(Taipei) Clean-up operations are underway on Friday in Taiwan after the passage of Kong-reyone of the biggest typhoons the island has experienced in recent decades and which left at least two dead and more than 500 injured.

The storm, accompanied by gusts reaching 184 km/h and torrential rains, made landfall Thursday early in the afternoon in the southeast of the territory, and swept the entire island, toppling trees, causing flooding and landslides.

A 48-year-old motorcyclist was killed on Thursday when a power pole fell on him in Taipei, and a 56-year-old woman died after a tree fell on her vehicle in central Nantou County. the national fire agency said, while more than 500 other people were injured.

Searches are underway to find four people who went hunting in the mountains of central Taiwan on Wednesday and have not been heard from since that evening.

Crossing the Taiwan Strait towards China on Friday, Kong-rey weakened to become a strong tropical storm, according to the Central Meteorological Administration.

Across Taiwan, work and classes have resumed, and stores and restaurants have reopened.

In the Taitung region (southeast) where the typhoon first hit, no “serious damage” was reported, according to a representative of the provincial firefighters.

“It was mostly trees falling and crashing into power poles that caused power outages,” said the firefighter, who only gave his last name, Huang.

More than 11,500 people across the island had evacuated their homes as authorities warned of landslides.

Taiwan is used to tropical storms, frequent from July to October, but it is “unusual for such a powerful typhoon to hit the island this late in the year,” notes meteorologist Chang Chun-yao.

Climate change is increasing their intensity, with heavy downpours, flash floods and very strong gusts, according to scientists.

Kong-rey is the third typhoon to hit Taiwan since July.