TAIPEI (Taiwan): Typhoon Haikui uprooted hundreds of trees, damaged coastal roads and unleashed torrential rain across Taiwan on Monday before weakening into a powerful storm and heading for southern China.
Haikui initially appeared to be leaving the island, but it made landfall in southwestern Kaohsiung early Monday before being downgraded to a severe tropical storm as it moved into the Taiwan Strait.
No deaths were reported, but destruction was visible in coastal Taitung, a mountainous region in less populated eastern Taiwan where the storm made a direct hit the day before.
“I’ve lived here for so long and I’ve never seen such gusts of wind,” said Chen Hai-feng, 55, a village chief in Taitung’s Donghe, where he and a work crew were clearing trees from the road early in the morning.
VIDEO: 🇹🇼 Typhoon Haikui leaves trail of destruction in Taiwan
Haikui toppled hundreds of trees, damaged coastal roads and dumped torrential rains on Monday before it weakened into a severe tropical storm and headed for southern China pic.twitter.com/U5pmq8KBY0
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 4, 2023
Although Haikui is considered less powerful than previous storms, Chen said it is stronger.
“It went right through us.
Workers carefully maneuvered excavators to move fallen tree limbs and power lines that snapped and stretched across the rain-soaked road.
Further north in the coastal district of Changbin, workers were carrying massive concrete blocks onto a coastal highway that had partially collapsed due to the force of waves crashing into it, hoping to absorb the impact.
Heavy orange-colored barriers were placed near the edge to prevent cars from skidding on the slippery road.
Haikui – Taiwan’s first typhoon in four years – forced the evacuation of more than 7,000 people across the island, particularly in mountainous areas prone to landslides. Hundreds of flights were canceled and businesses closed.
More than 217,000 homes temporarily lost power Sunday and overnight. By midday Monday, 11,000 homes were still without power, while schools and businesses remained closed in 14 cities as torrential rains descended.
A forecaster from Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Bureau said Haikui initially appeared to be tracking away from the island and out to sea, but made a second landfall in Kaohsiung around 4:00 a.m. (2000 GMT Sunday).
During the night, the “center of the typhoon almost circled” the port city, but as it moved along the coast, “the structure of the typhoon is damaged by the terrain and gradually weakens,” she said.
By midday, the storm had moved southwest of Taiwan’s outlying Penghu Island, but was still bringing torrential rain and strong winds to the south and northeast.
In the picturesque region of Hualien, waterfalls flowed from lush cliffs along Taiwan’s east coast, while market vendors in Keelung – a northern port city surrounded by mountains – braved the rain to sell fruit to raincoat-clad shoppers.
In Kaohsiung, the local government reported hundreds of uprooted trees and flooding in dozens of places, although the situation calmed down as the storm receded and weather conditions improved.
Nearly 80 people were injured during the typhoon, officials said, though the injuries were minor — mostly from fallen trees and traffic accidents.
