TAIPEI, Taiwan — Strong Typhoon Conley made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Thursday. It was the largest storm to hit the island in nearly 30 years, shutting down financial markets, canceling hundreds of flights and reducing rail service.
According to the government, about 500,000 households lost power due to the typhoon.
The storm hit Taitung County on the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast, with strong winds and torrential rain affecting most of the island, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.
The fire department announced that one person was killed when a truck collided with a fallen tree in central Taiwan.
Conray, once a super typhoon, weakened slightly overnight but remained as strong as a Category 4 hurricane, with wind gusts of more than 155 miles per hour, according to Tropical Cyclone Risk.
The Taiwan Meteorological Bureau announced that it was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan since 1996.
President Lai Chingtoku said on his Facebook page, “I hope that all citizens will cooperate to avoid disasters and refrain from dangerous activities such as watching waves during a typhoon.”
Government forecaster Jean Huang said the storm would make landfall on the east coast and then head towards the Taiwan Strait as a much weakened storm, urging residents across the island to stay at home due to the risk of strong winds.
Environmental authorities were working Thursday to prevent an oil leak from a Chinese cargo ship that lost power in rough weather and ran aground on rocks off Taiwan’s northern coast.
A warning was issued for destructive winds of more than 160 mph in Taitung, and Lanyu Island, a remote island in Taitung, recorded gusts of more than 162 mph before some wind gauges were shut down.
“Last night was scary. Many people on the island couldn’t sleep because they were worried that something had happened to their homes,” Sinan Rapongan, a government official on Lanyu, also known as Lanyu, told Reuters. spoke.
It added that some roofs were damaged and more than 1,300 homes lost power, but no injuries had been reported so far.
Parts of eastern Taiwan have recorded 3.3 feet of rainfall since the typhoon began approaching on Wednesday.
The government said the Ministry of Defense had 36,000 soldiers on standby to assist with rescue efforts and that nearly 10,000 people had been pre-evacuated from high-risk areas.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple and Nvidia, announced it has activated regular typhoon warning preparation procedures at all factories and construction sites.
“We do not anticipate any material impact to our business,” it said in an emailed statement.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation announced that 314 international flights were canceled along with all domestic flights.
Taiwan’s high-speed rail line, which connects major cities in the populous Western Plains, continued to operate with significantly reduced service.
Conley is expected to graze along the coast of China’s Fujian province on Friday morning. China’s financial capital Shanghai is bracing for what could be the worst rainstorm in more than 40 years.
Subtropical Taiwan is frequently hit by typhoons. The last typhoon, Kraton, passed south of the island earlier this month, killing four people.
