Typhoon Koinu heads to southern China and Hong Kong
October 6, 2023
Typhoon Koinu left one person dead and injured hundreds more in Taiwan on Thursday before heading toward southern China and Hong Kong.
Koinu brought pounding rain and record-breaking winds to southern and central Taiwan, downing trees and damaging buildings.
An 84-year-old woman was killed by flying glass in Taichung city and about 400 others were injured around the island, Taiwan's fire department said.
Some 390,000 households remained without electricity, authorities said on Friday.
Wind monitoring device broke
A weather monitoring station on Taiwan's outlying Orchid Island measured a gust of 342.7 kilometers per hour (212.9 miles per hour) on Wednesday evening.
The device measuring the wind speeds broke shortly afterward, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.
The most extensive damage was caused to the remote Orchid Island off Taiwan's east coast, which is home to around 5,000 people, although no one was injured on the island.
More than 70 boats were overturned or sunk in a harbor on the island, two schools were seriously damaged and power was cut due to the typhoon.
An Air Force helicopter was flying in engineers to restore electricity on Friday.
Taiwan experiences frequent tropical storms from May to November.
About a month ago, the island suffered its first direct hit in four years as Typhoon Haiku forced nearly 8,000 people to evacuate from their homes.
Hong Kong, Guandgong now in sight
Koinu, which means "puppy" in Japanese, was about 370 kilometers (230 miles) from Hong Kong on Friday morning and moving at about 10 kilometers (6 miles) per hour, the city government's Hong Kong Observatory said.
Hong Kong was hit by the heaviest rainfall in over 140 years about one month ago, which killed at least two people and caused widespread flooding.
The typhoon was weakening as it headed west across the South China Sea toward China's Guangdong province, the China Meteorological Administration said.
It was forecast to turn into a tropical storm by Saturday morning and turn to the southwest, taking it over waters that parallel China's southeastern coast on Sunday.
Forecasters said Koinu will bring heavy rain along the coasts of Guangdong and neighboring Fujian province in the next three days, with rainfall reaching possibly 300 millimeters.
China issues yellow alert
A yellow alert for strong winds has been issued — the third highest in a four-coloured warning system.
Guangdong province has suspended dozens of ferry routes since late Thursday and forecasters warned tourists to stay away from beach resorts on the last day of a week-long national holiday on Friday.
Experts say climate change has made the paths of tropical storms harder to forecast while increasing their intensity -- leading to heavy rains, flash floods and strong gusts.
mm/kb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)