Typhoon Krathon has made landfall in Taiwan, bringing destructive wind and rain to the island’s second biggest city.
The storm has killed at least two people with another several reported missing and more than 120 injured.
After hovering off Taiwan’s south-west coast for several days, Typhoon Krathon hit Kaohsiung at about 12.40pm local time on Thursday, with powerful storm surges and wind gusts of nearly 100mph that tore roofs from buildings, downed trees and tossed shipping containers around ports.
At least nine people also died in a hospital fire on Thursday morning, just a few kilometres from where Krathon made landfall. The fire is not believed to be linked to the typhoon, but authorities battled to evacuate hundreds of patients from the hospital amid the severe weather conditions.
Krathon had reached super typhoon status earlier in the week, after passing through the islands in northern Philippines, but stalled in the open seas to Taiwan’s south west and weakened before crossing the coastline as the equivalent of a category one typhoon.
Residents received texts early on Thursday warning them to stay inside, but the Kaohsiung mayor, Chen Chi-mai, said there were still too many people outside.
“Looking at surveillance cameras we can see there are a lot of people out riding scooters under such strong wind and rain, which is really very dangerous,” he said.
Several landslides were also reported around the island, including in the far north-east, as the outer bands of the slow moving storm covered much of Taiwan’s main island, bringing more than 1.6 metres of rain to some areas far from the storm’s centre.
Authorities took extra precautions with this storm, after Taiwan was hit by the very strong Typhoon Gaemi, equivalent to a category 4 hurricane, in July. Gaemi killed 11 people in Taiwan, brought widespread flooding including to Kaohsiung’s city centre and grounded several ships.
Offices, classes and financial markets were shut across all of Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and hundreds of flights were grounded. More than 38,000 troops had been placed on standby and almost 10,000 people evacuated from some mountainous areas.
Two reported deaths occurred before the storm made landfall. Rescue authorities said on Wednesday afternoon that one man in his 70s had died after falling from a tree and two were missing – one having fallen into rough seas and another swept away by a river, according to government news services. On Thursday morning, a truck driver was reported killed after a falling boulder struck his vehicle. At least 70 injuries have also been reported, mostly in the east coast county of Taitung, which has been battered by high winds and rain. One person was reported missing in the central county of Yunlin.
The storm’s impact zone mirrored a destructive 1977 storm which killed 37 people, with authorities citing this to urge extreme caution. While Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons, it is rare for them to make landfall on the densely populated west coast.
The storm is expected to weaken as it travels up the western plain of Taiwan, reverting back to a tropical depression before hitting the capital, Taipei, on Friday.