《TAIPEI TIMES》Two dead, 490 injured as storm lands

STILL REELINGKrathon has left thousands without water or electricity, shattered doors, caused mudslides and flooding, and disrupted flights and transportation

By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter

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The typhoon finally made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District （小港） at 12:40pm yesterday after lingering off the nation’s southwest coast.

A video uploaded by a Kaohsiung resident to Facebook showed that an apartment’s rain shade flew away, because of strong winds.

Another video showed the wind causing a cart selling betel nut to slide down the road.

Other videos showed severe flooding in the city’s Sanming （三民） and Kushan （鼓山） districts.

Glass doors were also shattered by the wind, with one video showing the front of a Hi-Life convenience store in the city’s Chienjin District （前金） completely broken. Elsewhere, employees of Grand Hilai Kaohsiung hotel were mobilized to physically support the glass doors so that they would not break.

Rain in northern Taiwan began to intensify yesterday as the typhoon moved north after the landfall. Flooding and mudflow were reported in multiple places in Keelung.

By 5:30pm yesterday, two people had died, 219 had sustained injuries and one person was reported missing, the center said.

Water supply was unavailable at 404,673 households, while 164,805 households were left without electricity, it said.

Eighty-three mobile phone base stations also needed to be repaired, the center said.

Nearly 2,000 people remained in shelters, it said.

Public transport also continued to be disrupted by the typhoon. A total of 469 domestic and international flights were canceled yesterday, while railway services at certain sections were canceled, the center said.

As of 6pm yesterday, Krathon’s center was 30km northeast of Kaohsiung, moving north at 6kph, data from the Central Weather Administration （CWA） showed. The storm’s radius had shrunk from 220km to 180km. The maximum wind speed near the center had also dropped to 108km.

Krathon has been downgraded to a tropical depression, as its structure had been damaged by the typography after landing in Kaohsiung, the CWA said.

Although Krathon is expected to weaken further as it heads north, residents living in the south of Taoyuan, as well as Nantou, Yilan, Hualien, Taitung and Penghu counties should still be on alert for disasters that it could cause, the CWA said.

As of 5:50pm, the highest accumulated rainfall in the past three days was recorded in Taitung County’s Jinfong Township （金峰）, reaching 1,284mm.

It was followed by Tahanshan （大漢山） and Naner （南鵝） in Taitung County, with accumulated rainfall topping 1,225mm and 1,204mm. However, 576mm of rain poured into New Taipei City’s Rueifang District （瑞芳） yesterday alone as of 5pm, making it the highest recorded rainfall.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES