Typhoon Danas Danas made landfall at 11:40 p.m. Sunday in Budai Township, Chiayi County, Taiwan with winds topping 220 kilometers per hour that triggered flash floods and landslides, wrote the New York Times. The west-coast strike was rare; most typhoons reach Taiwan’s east coast. “The western half of the country will be the most affected, but the whole island will progressively feel the effects of the wind and rain,” warned President William Lai on his official Facebook page, according to the New York Times.
The National Fire Agency ordered 2,853 evacuations, mainly in the mountains near Kaohsiung. The Central Emergency Operation Center recorded 2,270 incidents, mostly damaged infrastructure and fallen trees across Tainan, Chiayi, Kaohsiung, and Yunlin. The Bangkok Post said more than 700 trees were uprooted in west-coast cities.
Outages peaked above 660,000 households, with nearly 400,000 still without electricity Monday morning, said the New York Times. In Tainan, a 69-year-old driver died when his vehicle hit a fallen tree, and a 60-year-old ventilator patient died after a blackout cut power to his equipment, the paper added. The Taiwan Fire Department counted at least 28 minor injuries.
More than 300 flights were canceled, and 176 remained grounded by 10 a.m. Monday, according to the Bangkok Post. Rail service slowed, and roads were hazardous as signboards littered highways after gusts that reached 222.1 kilometers per hour at a Yunlin weather station.
Schools and offices closed Monday in over ten counties and cities in southern and central Taiwan, said News China. Rainfall topped 500 millimeters in parts of the south, submerging 49 locations and causing at least ten landslides, though most waters receded by dawn.
Science parks in Tainan and Hsinchu stayed open and reported no damage to production lines at chipmaker TSMC, stated the Bangkok Post.
Danas was the first recorded typhoon landfall in Chiayi County since detailed records began in 1958 and the first west-coast strike in 120 years, said News China. Lai urged citizens to avoid coastal and mountainous areas until conditions stabilized and warned of possible mudslides and sudden downpours as the storm’s trailing rain bands moved toward mainland China.
The typhoon weakened to a tropical storm Monday morning as it moved northwest toward the Taiwan Strait, killing two people and injuring more than 330.
By early afternoon local time the storm’s center about 130 kilometers north of Taipei and kept northern coastal waters under a wind and sea-surge alert, reported News China.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.