Deadly Typhoon Hits Taiwan
Typhoon Toraji whirled into southern China after killing 46 Taiwanese on Monday in mudslides and raging waters that flooded rice fields and fruit farms and swept away cars and houses.
Toraji slammed into this island early Monday and by the late morning had weakened into a tropical storm as it churned over northern Taiwan, sparing the capital, Taipei. The storm swept into southern China's Fujian province early Tuesday but no damage was immediately reported.
Hardest hit were the east-central county of Hualien and the central county of Nantou, where 46 people were killed in mudslides or flash floods that swept away cars, homes, bridges and mountain roads, emergency officials said. Dozens were reported missing.
In Nantou, a mountainous region devastated by an earthquake two years ago, chocolate-colored water flooded the narrow streets. Television reports showed palm trees that were ripped out of the ground by high winds. Several homes were half-buried in mud, while cars were covered up to their windshields.
Residents in the Nantou town center were seen trudging through the mud to retrieve their belongings. Other residents along riverbank areas were stranded on the roofs of their homes as rescue workers on red pontoon boats picked them up.
Officials had closed all bridges in Nantou as a precaution against flash floods. Waves of flood waters mixed with tree trunks and branches in Nantou's raging rivers, spilling over to nearby rice fields and banana groves.
In Taipei — about 125 miles north of Nantou — the normally congested streets were empty during morning rush hour as government offices and banks — including the stock market — were closed. Many upscale shopping malls and hotels had boarded up their windows as a precaution against the winds, which did little damage.
Taiwan's most famous high-tech industrial park, Hsinchu, was also in the path of the storm, but officials did not report any damage. The storm did not cause any power outages in the park — the island's version of Silicon Valley — saving many of the world's biggest computer chipmakers expensive delays.
By late Monday, Toraji — named after a popular plant in North Korea — had winds of up to 68 mph and gusts of up to 90 mph, the Central Weather Bureau said. A tropical storm becomes a typhoon when its surface winds reach 74 mph.
China Airlines, Taiwan's largest airline, canceled most of its international flights, while Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific canceled nine flights to Taiwan. Trains were also stopped between Taipei and cities in central and southeastern Taiwan.
About 5,000 fisherman and 370 boats from rival China were allowed to seek refuge in Taiwanese ports. But Taiwanese officials would not let the Chinese fishermen leave ther boats, fearing that they would try to illegally enter and stay.
Toraji follows five other tropical storms that have hit Taiwan this year.
Typhoon Utor, the strongest so far, lashed Taiwan, the Philippines and China last month, killing at least 46 people in China, 121 in the Philippines and one in Taiwan.
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