Typhoon Injures 14, Cancels Flights in Taiwan
Date: 15-Sep-08
Country: TAIWAN
Slow-moving typhoon Sinlaku covered much of Taiwan as its centre grazed the island's northeastern tip on Sunday morning.
It was expected to change direction and move northeast later on Sunday, taking its course toward Okinawa and then on to Japan's major islands.
No deaths had been reported but disaster officials said 14 people were hurt in the storm that triggered widespread flooding, isolated traffic accidents, 231,000 power outages, 407 mudslides and 1,127 evacuations.
"The amount of time this storm lingered and the level of rain, this time those were pretty severe," said Chris Cheng, a disaster response worker in Ilan County, a mountainous region hit by the typhoon.
"The most serious problems are flooding and power losses."
Many places in northeast Taiwan had up to 700 mm of rain, with some mountain areas recording up to a metre, according to local media reports which showed numerous images of flooded waterways, cracked roads and uprooted trees.
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said on its website (http://www.cwb.gov.tw) that the storm carried sustained winds of about 125 kmh (80 mp), with gusts up to about 160 kph.
The storm also forced the cancellation of about 20 flights from Taiwan's two major international airports and at least 40 domestic flights from Taipei's local airport on Sunday.
Aviation officials said services would gradually resume later on Sunday as the storm passed.
Taiwan's high-speed rail cancelled 46 trips over the weekend.
Work and classes were called off in all but one county on Taiwan's main island on Sunday, which fell on the traditional Chinese holiday Mid-Autumn Festival.
Sinlaku was the fourth storm of the season to hit Taiwan. On July 18, typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 20 people and caused extensive flooding, landslides and crop damage in the south and central part of the island.
Typhoons regularly reach China, Taiwan and the Philippines and Japan from August until the end of the year, gathering strength from the warm waters of the Pacific or the South China Sea before weakening over land.
(Reporting by Doug Young and Ralph Jennings; Editing by Paul Tait)
