2 dead, 100 hurt in Taiwan typhoon toll
Source: AFP |
02:01 UTC+8 July 14, 2013
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TYPHOON Soulik battered Taiwan with torrential rain and powerful winds yesterday that left two people dead and at least 100 injured.
Roofs were ripped from homes, debris and fallen trees littered the streets, and some areas were submerged by flood waters.
One town in central Taiwan reported "widespread" landslides and water levels a story high.
Some 8,000 people were evacuated before Soulik struck, with hundreds of soldiers deployed to high-risk areas and the whole island declared an "alert zone" by the authorities.
In the capital Taipei, a 50-year-old police officer died after being hit by bricks, the island's emergency operation center said.
A 54-year-old woman from central Miaoli county died after falling from her roof, while in Taichung city, a man was missing after falling into a river.
Some 104 people were reported injured, mostly by trees or debris, with most recorded in Taichung.
Soulik made landfall on the northeast at 3am yesterday, packing winds of up to 190 kilometers an hour, the island's weather bureau said.
Strong winds battered the island for much of the day but at 5pm the weather bureau downgraded Soulik to a tropical storm and lifted the land warning as it headed toward Chinese mainland.
Nine people were rescued by firefighters from flooded homes after a river burst its banks in the Shiangshan area of Puli, a town in central Nantou county, which was also hit by landslides.
"The water came very fast, catching residents totally unprepared - in some areas it was one-story deep," township official Wu Yuan-ming said.
There was a major landslide on a road leading to Tai'an, a central town famous for its hot springs.
The northern village of Bailan saw the heaviest rain, with 900 millimeters over the past two days, and winds of up to 220 kilometers per hour.
Across Taiwan, electricity supplies to 800,000 homes were down but half were restored by yesterday afternoon, said the Taiwan Power Company.
Around 170 flights were affected.
Roofs were ripped from homes, debris and fallen trees littered the streets, and some areas were submerged by flood waters.
One town in central Taiwan reported "widespread" landslides and water levels a story high.
Some 8,000 people were evacuated before Soulik struck, with hundreds of soldiers deployed to high-risk areas and the whole island declared an "alert zone" by the authorities.
In the capital Taipei, a 50-year-old police officer died after being hit by bricks, the island's emergency operation center said.
A 54-year-old woman from central Miaoli county died after falling from her roof, while in Taichung city, a man was missing after falling into a river.
Some 104 people were reported injured, mostly by trees or debris, with most recorded in Taichung.
Soulik made landfall on the northeast at 3am yesterday, packing winds of up to 190 kilometers an hour, the island's weather bureau said.
Strong winds battered the island for much of the day but at 5pm the weather bureau downgraded Soulik to a tropical storm and lifted the land warning as it headed toward Chinese mainland.
Nine people were rescued by firefighters from flooded homes after a river burst its banks in the Shiangshan area of Puli, a town in central Nantou county, which was also hit by landslides.
"The water came very fast, catching residents totally unprepared - in some areas it was one-story deep," township official Wu Yuan-ming said.
There was a major landslide on a road leading to Tai'an, a central town famous for its hot springs.
The northern village of Bailan saw the heaviest rain, with 900 millimeters over the past two days, and winds of up to 220 kilometers per hour.
Across Taiwan, electricity supplies to 800,000 homes were down but half were restored by yesterday afternoon, said the Taiwan Power Company.
Around 170 flights were affected.
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