TAIPEI, October 24 (Aalimi Nation) – Typhoon Champi battered Taiwan for a second day, leaving one person dead, hundreds injured and tens of thousands of households without electricity, according to figures released by the island's authorities.
Casualties and rescue readiness
The Central Emergency Operations Center said one person had died and 94 were injured as of 6 am on Friday. By 7:30 pm that day, the toll of injured had risen to 350, authorities said. The death was reported in Liouciou Township in Pingtung County, where a man was swept away by storm-driven waves on a beach.
More than 2,600 people were moved out of vulnerable mountain areas, and thousands of military personnel were placed on standby for rescue work. New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih said about 1,397 residents of landslide-prone areas in Yingge, Xindian, Pingxi and Shulin districts were expected to be evacuated. In Yilan County, 350 people in Datong and Nan'ao townships were evacuated as a precaution.
Power cuts, roads and flights
Taiwan Power Co. said 77,498 households lost electricity as of 2 pm on Friday. Supply had been restored to 58,469 of them, more than three-quarters, leaving 19,029 households without power at that time.
Travel across the island was badly disrupted. All 262 domestic and 715 international flights were cancelled on Friday, and 96 ferry services were suspended. Domestic flights and ferries remained suspended into Saturday, and flights were again cancelled or postponed.
On the coast, waves of up to 6 metres swept a large crane into the sea at Fugang Harbor in Taitung County, and waves of up to 8 metres sent seawater onto roads at Changbin Harbor, further north in the county,.
On Provincial Highway 9 near Duoliang Village, part of the roadbed on the outer side of the northbound lane was washed away, forcing the southbound lane to close. Chiu Min-feng of the Highway Bureau's Dawu Maintenance Office said traffic had not been disrupted, but warned that "continued erosion could further damage the embankment." The bureau said it would place concrete breakwater blocks as an emergency measure and temporarily close the outer northbound lane.
Rainfall and the storm's path
The Central Weather Administration forecast cumulative rainfall of 600 to 900 millimetres for New Taipei, Taoyuan and Yilan through midnight. The Taipingshan station in Yilan had recorded more than 500 millimetres by 7 pm, a level the agency classed as extremely torrential. Rain was expected to ease on Saturday afternoon.
At 8 pm on Friday the typhoon was about 100 kilometres east of Yilan, moving north-northeast. The weather agency expected it to pass off Taiwan's northeastern tip before heading towards the Chinese coast and southern Japan. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng said a landfall on Taiwan could not be ruled out if the storm slowed, looped or wobbled, noting that its wide wind radius meant slower movement would prolong strong winds.
The casualty figures are preliminary and have been updated several times, and some reports have cited higher injury totals than the official figures given above. The rainfall totals are partly forecasts rather than measured amounts, and the storm's final track will determine how long the heavy rain and wind continue.
