Weakened but still strong Typhoon Krathon slams into Taiwan, two dead
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Uprooted trees on Oct 2 as Typhoon Krathon approaches Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – A weakened and “weird” Typhoon Krathon
Krathon hit land as a much weaker category 1 typhoon around midday in the major port city of Kaohsiung, blowing down trees and street-lights while sending debris flying.
As pounding rain, howling winds and storm surges coincide with high tide, the government urged people to stay at home.
“It’s very powerful,” said Mr Chou Yi-tang, a government official in Siaogang district, home to Kaohsiung’s airport. “It’s been a long time since such a big storm made a landfall here.”
No major casualties were reported, he said, adding, “Fortunately people were well prepared this time.”
Typhoons often hit the east coast facing the Pacific, but Krathon is unusual since it directly hit the west coast, leading Taiwan’s media to label it a “weird” storm, and also because it hovered off the coast before reaching land.
Shortly after dawn, residents in Kaohsiung, a city of some 2.7 million people, received text message warnings telling them to seek shelter from gusts more than 160kmh.
Kaohsiung’s port recorded gusts of more than 220kmh.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai told reporters there were still too many people on the streets.
“Looking at surveillance cameras we can see there are a lot of people out riding scooters under such strong wind and rain, which is really very dangerous,” he said.
“If you don’t have to, please avoid going out.”
More than 100,000 homes lost electricity, half of them in Kaohsiung, state-run utility Taipower said.
Taipei university student Mr Liao Shian-rong, 24, came to Kaohsiung with some classmates specifically to chase the storm, bringing equipment like barometers and saying it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“We are being hit by the eyewall now and will enter the eye soon,” he said, filming the storm from a hotel lobby.
Taiwan’s fire department reported two deaths as the approaching typhoon brought torrential rains across the island.
Both fatalities were on the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast – one man falling while trimming a tree and another man whose vehicle was hit by a falling rock.
Parts of eastern Taiwan recorded rainfall of more than 1.6m, bringing rocks and mud cascading down onto roads.
The Southern Taiwan Science Park, home to one of chipmaker TSMC’s main factories, said operations were continuing as normal.
The typhoon is forecast to slowly work its way up Taiwan's flat western plain and weaken further into a tropical depression by late on Oct 4 before reaching the capital Taipei.
All domestic flights were cancelled for a second day, as well as 242 international ones.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Changi Airport spokesperson said two China Airlines flights between Singapore and Kaohsiung, originally scheduled for Oct 3, have been cancelled due to the typhoon.
The north-south high speed rail line suspended services from central to southern Taiwan until early evening.
Taiwan’s financial markets closed for a second day too. In Taipei there were squally rain showers, and many shops and malls remained open.
Typhoons often hit Taiwan's east coast facing the Pacific, but Krathon is unusual in that it directly hit the west coast. Local media labelled it a “weird” storm for that reason, and because of how it hovered off the coast before reaching land.
The Kaohsiung government has been particularly cautious in its preparations given the last time it was stuck by such a storm in 1977, Typhoon Thelma killed 37 people and devastated the city.
In a separate disaster, the government in the southernmost county of Pingtung said nine people had died in a hospital electrical fire, with the health ministry working during the typhoon to evacuate patients to other facilities. REUTERS
