Cleanup operations began on Friday, November 1 in Taiwan, after the passage of Kong-rey, one of the largest typhoons that the island has experienced in recent decades and which left at least two dead and more than 500 injured.
The storm, accompanied by gusts that reached 184 kilometers per hour and torrential rains, made landfall early Thursday afternoon in the southeast of the territory and devastated the entire island, felling trees, causing floods and landslides.
A 48-year-old motorcyclist was killed Thursday when a utility pole fell on him in Taipei, and a 56-year-old woman died after a tree fell on her vehicle in Nantou County, the national fire agency said, while more More than 500 other people were injured. Searches are underway to find four people who went hunting in the mountains in the center of the country on Wednesday and who have not been heard from since that night.
As it crossed the Taiwan Strait into China on Friday, Kong-rey weakened into a strong tropical storm, according to the Central Meteorological Administration.
Across Taiwan, work and classes have resumed, and shops and restaurants have reopened. In the Taitung region, where the typhoon first hit, no “serious damage” This is deplorable, according to a representative of the province’s firefighters.
11,500 people evacuated
“It was mainly the trees that fell and crashed into the electrical 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 when authorities warned of landslides. Taiwan is accustomed to tropical storms, frequent from July to October, but it is “It is unusual for such a powerful typhoon to hit the island at this time of year”notes meteorologist Chang Chun-yao.
Climate change is increasing in intensity, with heavy downpours, flash floods and very strong gusts of wind, scientists say. Kong-rey is the third typhoon to hit Taiwan since July.
