Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon makes landfall

Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon makes landfall

A car drives past a fallen tree as Typhoon Krathon nears Kaohsiung on October 3

Typhoon Krathon blasted into Taiwan on Thursday, bringing  mudslides, flooding and destructive winds to the shuttered island where at least two people have died in the storm and thousands have been evacuated. 

In Pingtung, the typhoon was hampering rescue efforts after a fire tore through a hospital, killing nine people.

Before Krathon made landfall in Kaohsiung packing gusts of 162 kilometres (100 miles) per hour, the port city's 2.7 million inhabitants were instructed by the Central Weather Administration to "take shelter ASAP". 

Later in the afternoon, they were advised to remain indoors as the eye of the storm passed through the area, lashing it with rain and lightning. 

"It feels like the end of the world. I haven't seen such a severe typhoon in decades. It's so big and scary," Liu Chih-hsiang, 60, the owner of a moving company in Kaohsiung told AFP.

"Our neighbour's metal roof has been blown off," he added.

Island-wide, schools, offices and businesses were all shut for a second consecutive day as the wind toppled trees, knocked over driving motorcyclists and blew cargo containers from a pier.

Across Taiwan, around 10,000 people were evacuated as of Thursday, according to the interior ministry.

Torrential rain and fierce winds attributed to Krathon left at least two people dead, one missing and 219 injured, according to the National Fire Agency.

A 70-year-old man was rushed to hospital on Tuesday after he fell while trimming trees in eastern Hualien county and died the next day.

A 66-year-old man, hospitalised in nearby Taitung on Monday after his truck hit a huge rock that had fallen onto the road, also died Wednesday.

Krathon has ground air traffic to a halt, suspending all domestic flights and cancelling around 240 international flights.

"We have to stay at least two or three days longer, plan accordingly," Chan Ka-woh, a waylaid tourist from Malaysia said from Kaohsiung airport on Wednesday.

- Mudslides, storm surge -

Powerful waves pounded the coast of Pingtung county, with seawater spilling onto a road and causing it to collapse in two places, TV footage showed. 

When a blaze broke out at a Pingtung hospital on Thursday, Taiwanese authorities said the bad weather was making rescue operations more difficult.

In New Taipei city in the island's north, where rain and wind were intensifying, a mudslide sent a large rock tumbling onto a temple, partially smashing its roof, local news outlet SET TV reported.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, but scientists have warned climate change is increasing their intensity, leading to heavy rains, flash floods and strong gusts.

In July, Gaemi became the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in eight years, killing at least 10 people, injuring hundreds, and triggering widespread flooding in Kaohsiung.

Krathon reached Taiwan after first slamming into a remote group of Philippine islands, leaving one dead, one missing and eight injured, as well as damaging over 300 houses, according to the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

bur-aw/lb

Originally published as Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon makes landfall