TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan was blasted by the world’s third-highest wind gust on record Wednesday as the eyewall of Typhoon Koinu moved across portions of the country.
Sadly, the storm has already been blamed for one death and more than 300 injuries. These figures are expected to increase as the storm continues its destructive path, heading west toward Hong Kong in China.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a woman in her 80s was injured by shattered glass during the typhoon and passed away due to excessive bleeding despite being quickly taken to the hospital, as the Central News Agency reported.
Koinu, meaning “puppy” in Japanese, swept across the country’s southern edge as a Category 4-equivalent cyclone, bringing record-breaking winds of 213 mph to Orchid Island, torrential rain and 21-foot-tall waves. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) told local media it was the highest wind gust recorded in Taiwan since the organization was founded in 1986.
Koinu’s winds destroyed an anemometer and are only bested by winds from Cyclone Olivia in Australia, recorded at 253 mph, and another gust on Mount Washington in New Hampshire at 231 mph.
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From space, you can see the true size of Koinu as it descended on Taiwan before weakening as it crossed into the Taiwan Strait and headed toward eastern China’s Guangdong province.
The heaviest rainfall occurred in sparsely populated mountainous areas of Pingtung County in the south, as well as the east coast counties of Taitung and Hualien, according to Reuters. Kaohsiung, the major southern port city, was also affected by the typhoon.
On Thursday, the people of Pingtung began cleaning up after the debris left behind by the recent disaster. The main tourist street leading to Kenting Beach was littered with signboards and other debris. Although the electricity remains intact on the tourist street, many thousands of residents in the southern part of Taiwan are still without power, Reuters reports.
Residents in Taipei, the island’s capital and home to financial markets, experienced strong winds and heavy rain despite being over 200 miles away. Reuters reports that factories for global chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) were working normally.
Taiwan’s two main domestic airlines, UNI Air and Mandarin Airlines, canceled most of their flights for Thursday, while ferries to outlying islands were also stopped, Reuters reports. A total of 46 international flights were canceled, the transport ministry said, but the high-speed rail connecting northern and southern Taiwan was not affected.
Koinu was the second typhoon of the year to hit Taiwan. The previous typhoon, Haikui, caused mass evacuations due to landslides and injuries in September. Despite being in an area frequently hit by tropical storms and typhoons, Haikui was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Taiwan in four years; the last one was Tropical Storm Bailu in 2019.