Typhoon Fung-wong Causes Flooding, Taiwan Evacuates 8,300 People

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION/John Fowler

JAKARTA - Taiwan evacuated more than 8,300 people ahead of the much weaker Typhoon Fung-wong's arrival on Wednesday.

The typhoon brought record-breaking heavy rains to the mountainous east coast, causing flooding in several locations.

Businesses and schools were closed in much of the southern part of the island.

Television footage showed severe flooding in some rural areas in the eastern county of Yilan, with waters neck-deep as troops launched rescue efforts for those stranded.

More than 1,000 homes were flooded in the port city of Suao, which received 648 mm (25 inches) of rain on Tuesday, a record for the month, weather officials said, as reported by Reuters on Wednesday, November 12.

"The water came in so fast," said fisherman Hung Chun-yi, who spent the night cleaning mud from his house after the first floor was submerged in 60 cm (2 feet) of water.

"The rain was so heavy, and so fast, that the drainage system couldn't handle it," he added.

Other residents were also working to clear mud from flooded homes in Suao, even though the heavy rain had stopped.

Firefighters said about 8,300 people had been evacuated from their homes to safer areas, mostly in Yilan and nearby Hualien, where monsoon winds from the north brought increased rainfall from the late and unseasonal typhoon.