Typhoon Kong-rey hits Taiwan’s east coast, leaving two dead and hundreds injured
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Typhoon Kong-rey hits Taiwan’s east coast, leaving two dead and hundreds injured

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A powerful typhoon made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people and bringing strong winds and flooding to much of the island’s east coast and northern areas, after tunneling past the northern Philippines.

Air and train services were suspended in Taiwan and 8,600 people moved to shelters.

Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184 kilometers per hour (114 miles per hour) with gusts of up to 227 km/h (141 mph) as it moved over eastern Taitung County. Parts of Yilan and Hualien counties were flooded by heavy rain, but many farmers in the largely rural areas had already harvested their crops in anticipation of damage from the storm.

Kong-rey’s winds weakened to 144 km/h (89 mph) as of Thursday evening, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, and the storm’s center moved away from the main island. It is expected to move northeast and will hit Taiwan’s outlying islands.

Taiwanese authorities reported two dead and 205 injured from the storm on Thursday afternoon. One of the deaths occurred when a tree fell on a vehicle. Police in Taipei reported that one more person was killed when a power pole fell, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

Officials also said they were trying to contact a couple of Czech tourists who had been hiking in Hualien’s Tarako National Park, known for its steep cliffs and mountain trails. Other travelers were advised to stay where they were.

The capital, Taipei, was largely shut down as it was hit by strong winds and heavy rain. Offices and schools across the island were closed. Off the northern coast, a tugboat was dispatched to tow a Chinese-registered freighter that was floundering and had been abandoned by its crew in heavy seas.

Earlier Thursday, the eye of the typhoon blew about 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, a cluster of islands and islets with about 19,000 people. Villagers in northern Philippine provinces were evacuated to shelters on Wednesday.

The Philippine weather agency had warned that the storm could blow away roofs and shatter windows and cause extensive damage to farmland, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

“It’s so, so powerful and we haven’t seen the extent of the damage yet because the wind outside is still so strong,” Batanes Governor Marilou Cayco told The Associated Press by cellphone before the line was cut.

Kong-rey, the 12th weather disturbance to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, lashed the Southeast Asian nation as it still recovers from a storm last week that left 179 dead and missing. Hundreds of thousands of people are still in emergency housing from Tropical Storm Trami.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and regularly sends aircraft and warships around the island, largely suspended its patrols, with just eight planes spotted around the island between Wednesday and Thursday, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.

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AP writer Jim Gomez contributed from Manila, Philippines.