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.
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