Powerful typhoon makes landfall in Taiwan

[July 28, 2008]  TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- A typhoon lashed Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rains Monday, triggering landslides and floods that disrupted air traffic and closed schools and businesses.

Typhoon Fung Wong made landfall on the east central coast just before daybreak, packing winds of 105 miles per hour. No casualties had been reported four hours later.

Television images showed rescue personnel wading through waist-deep waters to extricate people from their homes in Hualien in eastern Taiwan.

Officials evacuated more than 500 isolated villagers and barred traffic at low-lying bridges, Taiwan's disaster relief center said. An unidentified village chief in Nantou County in central Taiwan told Sanlih Television that rampaging flood waters had reached a mountain village, prompting some 1,000 people to prepare to evacuate.

In normally bustling Taipei, streets were deserted after authorities ordered businesses, banks and the local stock exchange to close.

The city's domestic airport was shut down, but at the international airport in suburban Taoyuan county some long-haul and regional flights using larger aircraft were still taking off and landing normally, according to the Taoyuan airport's Web site.

The state-run Taiwan Power company said more than 43,000 homes had lost power and several roads were blocked by landslides.

Fung Wong hit Taiwan just a week after tropical storm Kalmaegi killed 19 people and left six others missing on the island.

Typhoons frequently hit Taiwan between July and September, often causing casualties in mountainous regions prone to landslides and flash floods.

[Associated Press]

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