Typhoon pounds Taiwan

2005-07-19 10:30

Taipei - Two people were killed and another two were feared dead on Tuesday after Typhoon Haitang pounded Taiwan with powerful winds and rains, causing millions of dollars of losses to crops, rescue officials said.

A 65-year-old man was killed by a falling rock in central Taiwan while a 63-year-old woman drowned after falling into a river in the capital Taipei, said the National Fire Agency, which co-ordinates rescue missions.

Another two people were missing and feared dead, while 29 people were injured in storm-related accidents, the agency said.

Helicopters were meanwhile battling strong winds to rescue 21 crew members from a ship that partially sank off southern Kaohsiung port after losing power during the storm, television news footage showed.

Haitang also caused losses in agriculture worth an estimated 454 million Taiwan dollars ($14.21m) after it battered and flooded rice paddies, fruit and vegetable farms, and fish ponds, officials said.

By early Tuesday, as Haitang headed to southern China, air and railway traffic had partially resumed, after being forced to shut on Monday, and the financial market had reopened.

Some highways were still blocked by landslides and several bridges in southern Taiwan had collapsed.

The storm left more than 1.36 million households without power on Monday; by Tuesday 110 183 households still had no electricity.

The international luxury house Gucci also fell victim to the typhoon as burglars broke into its flagship store in Taipei on Monday, while it was closed for the storm, and stole several million Taiwan dollars' worth of items, police said.

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau warned residents to remain careful on Tuesday as strong wind gusts and downpours were expected to continue.

- AFP