Taiwan reopens, mopping up after Typhoon Krathon

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – Southern Taiwan worked on Oct 4 to clear up damage from flooding and high winds after Typhoon Krathon slammed into a major metropolis, while most of the rest of the island resumed work and financial markets reopened.

Krathon, now downgraded to a tropical depression, hit land in the south-western city of Kaohsiung, inundating streets, blowing out the windows of some buildings and scattering debris amid record-breaking winds.

While the rest of Taiwan resumed work, the governments in Kaohsiung and neighbouring Pingtung county declared a fourth successive day off work as they scrambled to pump away flood waters, remove fallen trees and clear roads.

“We hope as fast as possible to resume transport, water and electricity supplies, so work and life can get back to normal,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai told reporters.

The city government said it was tackling more than 2,000 trees that had fallen on roads, but reported only two injuries.

Workers used cranes to remove downed trees and traffic signs in Kaohsiung, a city and surrounds of 2.7 million people, with some roads blocked and drivers and pedestrians diverted.

“Sandbags didn’t work. The wind pressed the water in any way,” 49-year-old Clark Huang said. “Fortunately, it lasted only a couple of hours, and then we started cleaning up.”

Mr Tsai Ming-an, a 51-year-old engineer, was cleaning up his house after flooding of about 20cm came into his entire house on the ground floor.

“I have never seen winds like that. It was so bad,” Mr Tsai said.

Typhoons almost always hit Taiwan’s mountainous and sparsely populated east coast, which faces the Pacific Ocean, but Krathon unusually struck its flat west coast.

Nearly 100,000 households, almost all in Kaohsiung and Pingtung, still had no power on Oct 4, while 129,000 households in Kaohsiung lacked water supply.

The fire department said the death toll remained at two, both men killed on the east coast before the typhoon made landfall, with one person missing and 667 injured.

The typhoon had no impact on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s operations, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement.

Taiwan reopened its north-south high speed rail line, as well as most ordinary rail routes except for two branch lines, but disruptions to air transport continued, with cancellations of 15 international and 88 domestic flights.

At Kaohsiung port, some freight containers were blown off their stacks and workers were clearing them to ensure operations went unaffected, the Transport Ministry said.

Kaohsiung airport suffered damage to two air bridges, while the airport on the outlying Orchid Island had landing aids washed away, though both facilities remained open, the ministry added.

The government also said it was investigating the cause of a Pingtung hospital fire that broke out as the typhoon was bearing down, killing nine people. REUTERS