Saturday, 8 August 2015

Typhoon Soudelor makes landfall

Typhoon Soudelor kills four in Taiwan
Typhoon Soudelor has lashed Taiwan downing trees, traffic lights and power lines, and leaving at least four dead, four missing and dozens injured.


Behind fallen trees, a man braves the strong winds from Typhoon Soudelor with his bicycle in Taipei, Taiwan.

8 August, 2015


The typhoon brought strong winds and heavy rainfall as it made landfall early on Saturday and was expected to move into the Taiwan Strait and onto mainland China later.

A total of 64 people have been injured and almost 2 million households were without electricity as the powerful storm left streets strewn with fallen trees, the government's Central News Agency reported.

An 8-year-girl and her mother died when they were swept out to sea Thursday from a beach on the east coast, the agency said. The girl's twin sister remains missing.

People walk against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan in Taipei, August 7, 2015.

EDWARD LAU  People walk against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan in Taipei, August 7, 2015.


"The group went to the beach but were swept out to sea by strong waves," a spokesman for the fire bureau in Yilan County said.

"It was a mother, her twins, and a friend's daughter. The adult and her daughter had already lost their heartbeat when brought to shore. The other child was conscious.

"The search for the missing girl stopped for today as it was getting dark but will continue."
Other casualties included a firefighter who was killed and another injured after being hit by a drunken driver as they attempted to move a fallen tree in the island's south, the news agency said.
The centre of the storm made landfall in eastern Taiwan at 4.40am(10.40am NZ time).
Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said that by mid-morning Saturday, Soudelor was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph. It was moving away from the island in a northwesterly direction Saturday afternoon, and weakened with top winds of up to 144 kph. Strong winds and heavy rains were still expected to continue in Taiwan.
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1438653855/643/12349643.jpg
A wider view showing 
Super Typhoon Soudelor in the Northwest Pacific on Tuesday, seen from the Himawari-8 satellite.

Authorities in southeast China ordered the evacuation of about 158,000 people and ships back to port ahead of the typhoon, which was expected to hit Fujian province on Saturday night.
On Friday afternoon, marine police rescued 55 university students and teachers trapped on a small island where they had been attending a summer camp, after strong gales stopped ferry services, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

More than 2000 people, many of them tourists, had already been evacuated from Taiwan's outlying islands.
Billed as the biggest typhoon of the year earlier in the week, Soudelor has since weakened but authorities warned it may strengthen





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