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Typhoon Kaemi lashes Taiwan
25/07/2006 10:45 - (SA)
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| A Taiwanese fisherman repairs his nets in a typhoon shelter in Tamshui, just before typhoon Kaemi lashed the country with heavy rains and strong. (AP Photo) |
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Taipei - Typhoon Kaemi lashed Taiwan with heavy rains and strong winds on Tuesday, disrupting traffic and causing power outages before churning across the Taiwan Strait toward southern China.
China is still recovering from an earlier storm that killed more than 600 people.
The seventh storm this season made landfall in Taitung, southeastern Taiwan, at midnight and roared toward the Taiwan Strait through the southwestern county of Chiayi before dawn on Tuesday.
Officials said trains had resumed service but domestic flights to eastern and southern Taiwan were still grounded. Schools and government offices across the country, barring Taipei were closed.
More than 20 000 households experienced power outages as Kaemi broke dozens of electricity poles along the eastern coast of Hualien, said officials.
Rains cause scattered landslides
Central weather bureau forecasters said the typhoon's outer band was expected to bring heavy rains across Taiwan over the next two days.
The rains caused scattered landslides and swelled several main rivers.
Television pictures showed a raging river overwhelming a bridge in the mountainous Nantou county in central Taiwan. Officials said local residents had been evacuated overnight.
By midday on Tuesday, Kaemi had blustered past Penghu Island, about 60km west of Taiwan, said the central weather bureau.
It had weakened slightly with sustained surface winds of 119kph as it moved toward southern China at a speed of 17kph.
China has ordered emergency preparations.
Schools closed in Manila
Chinese state media, Xinhua, quoted vice premier Hui Liangyu as saying that the typhoon threat was "very severe". Hui has ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas and the return of fishing boats to port.
Xinhua said food, clothing, shelter and medical supplies had been ordered into place and thousands of soldiers placed on standby in case of flooding.
Kaemi comes on the heels of tropical storm Bilis, which pounded southern China from July 14, and triggered flooding and mudslides.
Xinhua put the storm's death toll at 612 on Monday, with 208 people missing and three million forced from their homes.
In the northern Philippines, Kaemi forced the closure of schools and government offices.
School classes in Manila were suspended for a second day on Tuesday.
- AP
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