Taiwan evacuated more than 8,300 residents as Typhoon Fung-wong brought torrential rains and severe flooding to the island’s mountainous east coast on Wednesday, submerging homes, injuring dozens, and prompting widespread shutdowns of schools and businesses.
Although the storm weakened significantly after leaving the Philippines, where it killed at least 27 people, Fung-wong still unleashed intense downpours across Taiwan’s eastern and southern regions.
The worst flooding was reported in Yilan County, where water reached neck-high in some areas and soldiers carried out overnight rescues of stranded residents.
“The water came in so quickly,” said fisherman Hung Chun-yi from the harbor town of Suao, where floodwaters reached 60 centimeters (about two feet) inside his home. “It rained so much, and so fast, the drainage couldn’t take it.”
Authorities said most of the 8,300 evacuees were from Yilan and neighboring Hualien, which were drenched by a rare late-season typhoon combined with a strong northern monsoon.
Yilan’s Dongshan Township recorded an astonishing 794 millimeters (31 inches) of rain on Tuesday alone, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration.
At least 51 people were injured, and emergency crews worked through the night clearing blocked roads and reinforcing riverbanks to prevent further damage.
Fung-wong is expected to graze Taiwan’s southern tip later Wednesday before moving back into the Pacific Ocean, continuing to weaken as it drifts eastward.
The storm is not forecast to directly affect Hsinchu, home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
The flooding comes just weeks after another typhoon in September killed 18 people in Hualien, underscoring Taiwan’s growing vulnerability to extreme weather events as climate patterns intensify across East Asia.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
