Typhoon Koinu brings record-breaking winds to Taiwan, killing 1 and injuring 300
Typhoon Koinu swept southern Taiwan on Thursday, killing one person and injuring more than 300 as it brought pounding rain and record-breaking winds to the island, leading to school and office closures.
One person was killed by flying glass in the central city of Taichung, and at least 304 were injured around the island, Taiwan’s fire department said. Gusts of wind downed trees and caused damage to some buildings.
Koinu, which means “puppy” in Japanese, made landfall early Thursday in Cape Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, and is expected to weaken as it moves west toward Guangdong and Fujian provinces in southern China.
The typhoon brought the fastest wind ever recorded in Taiwan as it approached Wednesday night. A weather monitoring station on outlying Orchid Island, southeast of the main island, measured a gust of nearly 213 mph at 9:53 p.m., as well as sustained winds that reached about 123 mph at 9:40 p.m.
Both values set all-time highs since Taiwan began keeping records of wind speeds in 1897, said Huang Chia-mei, head of the Central Weather Administration’s Taitung Weather Station, according to the official Central News Agency.
The device measuring the wind speeds broke shortly after, Huang said.
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Images shared on social media from Orchid Island showed buildings with broken windows and boats sunk in a harbor.
On Thursday evening, Koinu’s maximum sustained winds measured 85 mph with gusts of 107 mph.
The heaviest rain fell in the east coast counties of Taitung and Hualien and in mountainous Pingtung county in the south.
Cities across the island canceled work and classes, including the major southwestern port city of Kaohsiung. The capital, Taipei, was operating as normal.
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Most domestic flights and dozens of international flights were canceled, according to the transportation ministry, while ferries to outlying islands were also suspended.
Despite weakening, Koinu is expected to douse coastal areas of southern China over the weekend. The city of Guangzhou canceled some flights and trains starting Friday, while its maritime authorities issued a Level 4 alert — the least severe in a four-tier system — calling for caution.
In Fujian province, bordering the Taiwan Strait, authorities suspended 137 passenger ferry trips.
Taiwan sits in an active region for tropical cyclones, but Koinu is only the second typhoon to make landfall in four years. Typhoon Haikui hit the island in early September, injuring dozens.
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