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Taiwan hit by typhoon Soudelor Typhoon Soudelor: death toll rises as storm crosses Taiwan
(about 7 hours later)
Typhoon Soudelor has lashed Taiwan, bringing down trees, traffic lights and power lines, and leaving at least four dead in its wake over several days, according to authorities. The death toll caused by typhoon Soudelor in Taiwan has risen to at least six with dozens more injured, the island’s authorities have said.
The typhoon brought strong winds and heavy rainfall as it made landfall early on Saturday and was expected to move into the Taiwan Strait and on to mainland China later in the day. Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said that by mid-morning on Saturday there were sustained winds of 100 miles an hour (161km/h), bringing down power lines and trees, blocking roads and causing widespread flooding. Mountain areas were put on alert for landslides and low-lying areas for flooding.
More than 20 people were injured and almost two million households lost electricity, the government’s Central News Agency reported. Taiwanese authorities have cancelled all domestic and some international flights to and from the island. Schools and businesses were closed on Friday.
An eight-year-girl and her mother died when they were swept out to sea on Thursday from a beach on the east coast, the agency said. The girl’s twin sister was missing. “I’ve never seen such a powerful typhoon in my 60 years,” one resident in the eastern Taitung county told Taiwan’s Formosa TV.
Other casualties included a firefighter who was killed and another injured after being hit by a drunken driver as they attempted to move a fallen tree in the island’s south, the news agency said. China’s authorities have ordered the evacuation of more than 163,000 people in Fujian province and all shipping in the area has been ordered to return to ports.
The center of the storm made landfall in eastern Taiwan at 4.40am on Saturday. On Friday afternoon, marine police rescued 55 university students and teachers trapped on a small island where they had been attending a summer camp, after strong gales stopped ferry services, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said that by mid-morning Saturday there were sustained winds of 100 miles an hour (162km/h). Mountain areas were put on alert for landslides and low-lying areas for flooding. The Central Weather Bureau, which has been tracking the typhoon for a week since it started gathering force in the Philippine Sea to the east of the island, said the storm was expected to cross the country and head into the Taiwan strait, the 112-mile wide gulf separating the island from mainland China, later on Saturday.
Authorities in south-east China ordered the evacuation of about 158,000 people and ships back to port ahead of the typhoon. An eight-year-old girl and her mother died when they were swept out to sea on Thursday from a beach on the east coast of Taiwan, the island’s Central News Agency reported. The girl’s twin sister is missing, while a 38-year-old woman and another girl survived. The Taipei Times reported the surviving girl had stayed alive by clinging to the body of the twins’ mother before they were plucked from the water.
On Friday afternoon marine police rescued 55 university students and teachers trapped on a small island where they had been attending a summer camp, after strong gales stopped ferry services, China’s official Xinhua news agency said. “The girl who died and the one who went missing were swept away by strong waves,” a spokesman for the National Fire Agency told AFP.
Other casualties included a firefighter who was killed and another injured after being hit by a drunk driver as they attempted to move a fallen tree in the island’s southern province.
As the typhoon approached the island on Friday, authorities prepared emergency shelters to hold more than 45,000 people whose homes were in the direct path of the storm, while 32,000 soldiers were put on an emergency footing as plans for disaster relief were advanced. Islands off the coast of Taiwan were evacuated, with more than 2,000 people moved as meteorologists tracked the typhoon. The centre of the storm made landfall in eastern Taiwan at 4.40am on Saturday.
Soudelor was described as a “super typhoon” by the Hong Kong Observatory earlier in the week as it reached maximum sustained wind speeds of 142mph. The observatory’s super typhoon status is given when wind speeds exceed 114mph.
Earlier in the week, typhoon Soudelor reached wind speeds of 179mph in the north-west Pacific before weakening as it approached Taiwan.
In 2009, typhoon Morakot swept over the island, killing more than 600 people and causing £2.5bn worth of damage.