One person has died and 73 were injured as of 2pm as Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said, while more than 200,000 households experienced power or water outages.
A 56-year-old foreign female passenger died at 1pm this afternoon after a tree fell onto a blue truck she was traveling in in Nantou County’s Renai Township (仁愛).
The truck’s 76-year-old male driver, surnamed Lin (林), was slightly injured.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, two Czech tourists reported missing earlier after having entered Taroko National Park have been found.
As of 2pm, 9,658 people had been evacuated as preventive evacuation was carried out in 13 regions, including New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Taichung.
In addition, 91 shelters had been set up in 12 regions, accommodating 1,822 people.
Water outages have been reported across Taiwan with 3,558 households being affected, mostly in Hualien County, where 3,044 households in Rueisui Township (瑞穗) are affected.
More than 207,000 households have experienced power cuts, with electricity having been restored to 96,000 households as of the early evening.
Also, 75 red alerts for debris flow had been issued in four regions — Yilan County’s Datong Township (大同), Hualien County’s Yuli Township (玉里), New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止) and Hsinchu County’s Jianshi Township (尖石).
In addition, 555 yellow alerts for debris flow had been issued in 11 regions, including Datong Township, Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復), Chiayi County’s Alishan Township (阿里山), Taichung’s Heping District (和平) and Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里).
Red alerts for large-scale landslides have been issued for three townships — Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪), Sijhih District and Jianshi Township, while yellow alerts have been issued for 16 locations in seven counties and municipalities, including Datong Township.
Meanwhile, New Taipei Metro Corp announced this afternoon that all services on the Circular Line and the Ankeng and Danhai light rail transit systems have been temporarily suspended due to strong winds from the typhoon.
The suspension of services on the Circular Line that links Dapinglin Station in Sindian District (新店) and New Taipei Industrial Park Station in Sinjhuang District (新莊), as well as the Ankeng and Danhai light rail systems, went into effect at 3:30pm this afternoon, the metro company said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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