Climate and Natural Disasters

Tropical Storm Fung Wong Hammers Parts of Taiwan

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By Devin Tsai/John Van Trieste

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Tropical Storm Fung Wong is nearing Taiwan, and thousands of people have evacuated. The east coast is already seeing widespread flooding and damage.

Tropical Storm Fung Wong Batters Taiwan’s East Coast 

 

REPORTER:   

Eastern Taiwan is hammered with rain as Tropical Storm Fung Wong closes in on the island. Here in Su’ao Township in southern Yilan, over 120mm has been falling each hour, washing out roads and in some places, submerging the ground floor of buildings. 

 

Su’ao Flood Victim:   

All at once the water rushed in and flooded the living room. I was a bit nervous and scared. 

 

REPORTER:   

Water control infrastructure is overwhelmed by the constant downpour. 

 

Lee Ming-che (SU’AO TOWNSHIP CHIEF):   

The roads out of town are flooded. Vehicles can’t go in or out because the water in the Su’ao Creek River has risen dramatically. The pumping station at A-li-shih is constantly pumping out water but it can’t lower the water level. 

 

REPORTER:   

It’s been left to the military and firefighters to rescue stranded people. 

 

REPORTER:   

The storm hasn’t even made landfall yet. And yet scenes like those from Su’ao show it’s already hammering Taiwan. 

 

REPORTER:   

Precautions have been taken: Over 8,000 people across the country have evacuated in preparation and twelve cities and counties have canceled work and classes. 58 international flights and 210 domestic flights are canceled. Still, the National Fire Agency has already counted 51 injuries across the country due to the storm. 

 

REPORTER:   

On especially high alert is Hualien on the east coast. This is a mountainous region prone to flooding and landslides. In September, a typhoon triggered a sudden flood when a barrier dam burst. 19 people died. Five more are still missing. 

 

REPORTER:   

Here the Matai’an River—the same river linked to the last flood—has already burst its banks, flooding the nearby village of Mingli and sweeping away a whole shipping container. 

 

REPORTER:   

Forecasters say the storm is already weakening, and will weaken further after landfall. 

 

Chu Mei-lin (CENTRAL WEATHER ADMINISTRATION):   

Around the evening it will make landfall in the south of the Hengchun Peninsula and move towards the northeast. But in the process, the storm will continue to weaken. We don’t rule out that it could weaken to a tropical depression a bit earlier. 

 

REPORTER:   

But in the areas the storm has been battering though, there is still more to come as it hits Taiwan.