Typhoon Koinu killed at least one person on Thursday, October 5, in Taiwan, where winds of a power never before recorded in the territory tore down electrical poles, depriving nearly 330,000 homes of power. The typhoon hit the main island in the morning before continuing its course westward and weakening, according to Taiwan’s weather service.
An 84-year-old woman died at her home in Taichung on the west coast after being hit by broken glass in gusts, authorities said. However, it was the Pingtung region, at the southern tip of the territory, and Orchid Island, about fifty kilometers to the east, which were most affected. Orchid Island suffered gusts overnight that reached 95.2 meters per second (342.7 km/h), “a record for Taiwan,” the weather services noted.
Across the island, nearly 330,000 homes were without power due to the typhoon. The government reported nearly three hundred injured, without giving details of the seriousness of their condition. Some injuries were caused by falling trees, according to local media.
“Terrifying” winds
In Pingtung County in the south of the island, Pan Huang Kui-chun, a 68-year-old temple guard, described how “terrifying” winds downed power poles in his neighborhood. “It almost took my house apart. I had to move all my objects of worship,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“This time the typhoon was particularly powerful. Very powerful. The wind was very strong, and it blew for a very long time. It took a while to pass. »
The streets were deserted Thursday in Pingtung, where electricity poles littered the streets. A manager of a team responsible for restoring electricity told AFP that it would take at least two days.
Second typhoon in a month
Taiwan had canceled more than two hundred international and domestic flights as a precaution and evacuated three thousand people before the arrival of the typhoon, the second to hit the territory in a month.
The island experiences frequent tropical storms from May to November, but Typhoon Haikui in early September was the first to hit the island in four years, triggering torrential rains, strong winds and forcing nearly eight thousand people to evacuate their home.
Experts point out that climate change has made it more difficult to predict the path of tropical storms, while increasing their intensity, leading to heavy rains or flash floods.
After the Taiwan region, Typhoon Koinu is expected to head towards the eastern coast of the Chinese province of Guangdong which includes the city of Guangzhou, according to the Hong Kong meteorological observatory.
Hong Kong was bypassed by Typhoon Haikui in September, but suffered the worst rainfall since records began. On Wednesday, the territory issued typhoon alert number one, the lowest level, as Koinu approached.
