Taipei [Taiwan]. November 1: Super Typhoon Kong-rey struck Taiwan on Thursday, resulting in at least one fatality and 205 injuries due to accidents caused by heavy rainfall and strong winds, the Central Emergency Operation Centre (CEOC) reported.
The radius of Kong-rey's storm exceeds 320 kilometres, making it the largest typhoon hitting Taiwan in nearly the past three decades. The last one with a storm radius exceeding 300 kilometres making landfall on the island was Typhoon Herb in 1996, according to the state-run Central News Agency.
The storm made landfall in eastern Taiwan in the afternoon on Thursday, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). In central Taiwan, the Nantou County government said a truck was crushed by a roadside tree, the CEOC reported. In the accident, a 56-year-old woman was taken to the hospital but was pronounced dead in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, 205 people around the island were injured in accidents linked to the typhoon, according to the CEOC.
It reported more than 3,668 accidents, such as fallen trees and road damage, adding that 11,937 people in disaster-prone areas in different cities and counties were evacuated. Around the island, at least 621,280 households experienced a power outage early Thursday. A total of 316 international flights were cancelled. Schools and businesses across Taiwan closed on Thursday. Financial markets were also shut.
Source: Qatar Tribune