Southern Taiwan scrambled Friday to repair damage from floods and high winds that accompanied Typhoon Krathon, as much of the rest of the island returned to work and financial markets reopened .
Krathon, downgraded to a category 1 typhoon, made landfall on Thursday near the large port city of Kaohsiung, before crossing central Taiwan.
The government has called on people to stay at home due to torrential rain, strong winds and storm surge.
As the rest of the island returned to work on Friday, the governments of Kaohsiung and neighboring Pingtung County declared a fourth consecutive day of work stoppage.
The fire service said the death toll remained at two, with one person missing and 667 others injured.
Nearly 100,000 homes, almost all in Kaohsiung and Pingtung, were still without power as of Friday, while 129,000 homes in Kaohsiung were without water.
The typhoon had no impact on TSMC’s operations
2330.TW, the world’s largest semiconductor maker said in a statement.
Taiwan has reopened its north-south high-speed rail line, as well as most regular rail lines, except for two branch lines.
However, air transport disruptions continued, with the cancellation of 15 international flights and 88 domestic flights.
The government also said it was investigating the causes of the Pingtung Hospital fire, which broke out as the typhoon was battering the city and killed nine people.
Typhoons almost always hit the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast of Taiwan, but Krathon exceptionally hit the west coast, which is more vulnerable to these atmospheric disturbances.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Ann Wang; French version by Mara Vîlcu, edited by Augustin Turpin)
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