5th October, 2023
Typhoon Koinu battered Taiwan with torrential rains and powerful winds, resulting in over 200,000 households losing electricity and causing injuries, according to authorities’ reports on Thursday.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) confirmed that Koinu was currently traversing southern Taiwan.
The storm would continue to affect Taiwan until Friday, when it heads onward towards south-eastern China.
CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua told a news conference that a monitoring station in Lanyu, or Orchid Island, in eastern Taiwan, showed a record high wind gust late on Wednesday, with a speed of 95.2 metres per second.
The wind gust surpassed the previous record of 89.8 metres per second in 1984 in Lanyu.
At least 190 people were injured due to accidents, said the Central Emergency Operation Centre.
Local governments had reported 1,719 accidents, including more than 900 involving fallen trees and shop signs.
Local media showed images of fallen power lines and trees in affected areas in southern and eastern Taiwan, where some tin houses were torn apart.
Many schools and offices were closed on Thursday, and more than 220 international and domestic flights were cancelled.
Train services on mountains or flood-prone areas in eastern Taiwan were suspended.
Similarly, ferry services connecting the island of Taiwan and offshore islets have been suspended since Tuesday.
dpa/NAN