Rescuers and cleaning services are at work this Friday in Taiwan, after the passage of Kong-rey, one of the biggest typhoons the island has experienced in recent decades. If Taiwan is used to tropical storms, frequent from July to October, it is “unusual for such a powerful typhoon to hit the island so late in the year,” noted meteorologist Chang Chun-yao. Kong-rey is the third typhoon to hit Taiwan since July. This summer, Typhoon Gaemi had already killed ten people and injured hundreds, causing widespread flooding in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
This time, Kong-rey, accompanied by gusts reaching 184 km/h and torrential rains, made landfall early Thursday afternoon in the southeast of the territory. It swept across the entire island, uprooting trees, causing floods and landslides.
A 48-year-old motorcyclist was killed
Torrential rains hit the town of Toucheng in the Yilan region, sending mud and debris into the streets. In the Taitung region (south-east) where the typhoon first hit, the damage concerns “mainly trees which fell and crashed on electricity poles and caused power outages”, explained an official. firefighters.
A 48-year-old motorcyclist was killed Thursday when a power pole fell in Taipei, and a 56-year-old woman died after a tree fell on her vehicle in Nantou County (central), according to the national fire agency while more than 500 other people were injured.
During the passage of the storm, air traffic was seriously disrupted with more than 240 flights canceled from Taoyuan International Airport, near Taipei. An air disaster was narrowly avoided. While approaching landing at Taoyuan International Airport, the pilot of a Starlux flight from Okinawa was forced to perform a go-around maneuver before landing successfully a short time later. On the first attempt, according to the images, it appears that the wing of the aircraft literally scraped the ground before the pilot could go around again.
This toll could become even heavier. Searches are underway to find four people who went hunting in the mountains of central Taiwan on Wednesday and who have not been heard from. On the other hand, two Czech hikers stuck in Taroko Park in Hualien County during the typhoon were rescued this Friday.
100,000 homes without electricity
Across Taiwan, work and classes have resumed, and stores and restaurants have reopened. However, nearly 100,000 homes are still without electricity. In addition, dozens of ferry and rail connections remain suspended.
Across the island, maintenance workers got up at dawn to collect trees, branches and other debris from the roads. “We started cleaning from 5 a.m. and we only cleaned one section of the road, it took us about two and a half hours,” said Lee Chia-hsin, a member of the the New Taipei City clean-up team.
After crossing the Taiwan Strait towards China on Friday, Kong-rey weakened to become a strong tropical storm, according to the Central Meteorological Administration.
