Land, sea warnings raised
Print Edition
AN 8-year-old girl and her mother died after they were swept out to sea off Taiwan as Typhoon Soudelor bore down on the island, forcing thousands to flee, officials said yesterday.
Troops evacuated villagers from remote mountain regions in the east of the island and helped secure their homes as rains and surging waves battered the coast.
More than 2,000 people, many of them tourists, have already been evacuated from Taiwan’s outlying islands.
The typhoon was expected to make a direct hit on the east coast in early hours of today before moving across central Taiwan to southeast China’s Fujian Province across the Taiwan Strait.
Earlier this week it was billed as the biggest typhoon of the year, but Soudelor has since weakened. However, authorities warned it may strengthen again before making landfall.
The girl and her mother became the first casualties of the impending storm in Taiwan’s eastern Yilan County on Thursday.
The dead girl’s twin was also missing in the same incident, while another 9-year-old girl was injured but survived.
“The group went to the beach but were swept out to sea by strong waves,” a spokesman for Yilan’s fire bureau told reporters.
“It was a mother, her twins, and a friend’s daughter. The adult and her daughter had already lost their heartbeat when brought to shore. The other child was conscious.
“The search for the missing girl stopped for today as it was getting dark but will continue.”
Troops helped move residents from villages in the counties of Yilan and Hualien yesterday afternoon as well as reinforcing their houses, which will bear the brunt of the storm.
Riverside aboriginal communities in New Taipei City were also evacuated last night.
Much of the island will be lashed by torrential rain and by yesterday afternoon 140 millimeters had already fallen near Taoyuan City in the island’s northwest.
Offices and schools were shut down yesterday, mainly in the north and east.
More than 40 international flights out of Taiwan were canceled and ferry services to outlying islands were suspended.
Packing maximum wind speeds of 173 kilometers per hour near its center, Soudelor was 280 kilometers southeast of Hualien last night.
Currently described as a “moderate typhoon” by Taiwan’s weather bureau — the second highest category — it could be raised to the top category of “severe typhoon” if wind speeds near the center reach more than 184 kilometers an hour.
“We don’t rule out the chances Soudelor could strengthen later,” said the weather bureau.
Soudelor had been described as a “super typhoon” by the Hong Kong Observatory earlier in the week after it reached maximum sustained wind speeds of 230 kilometers an hour.
The Observatory’s super typhoon status is given when wind speeds exceed 185 kilometers per hour.
Both land and sea warnings have been raised, while “torrential rain” was forecast for Taipei and 14 counties, a category which means at least 350 millimeters will fall within 24 hours.
Taiwan authorities said they had readied 100 shelters that can accommodate more than 45,000 people while around 35,000 soldiers are on standby for disaster relief.
Fishing boats returned to harbors along the coast as the storm approached.
“Although it won’t have the same effect of Typhoon Morakot, this typhoon is still very well developed,” Taiwan government official Mao Chi-kuo said on Thursday, referring to a storm that killed 600 people in 2009.
More than 32,000 fishing boats had returned to port by mid-morning yesterday in densely populated Fujian on China’s mainland, after they were ordered back to shore ahead of Soudelor’s forecast landfall this afternoon or tonight.
It is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds with it.
Residents will be evacuated according to weather conditions, the provincial flood control office said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
