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Southern China Bracing for Typhoon After 400 Injured in Taiwan

Weather centre says typhoon Koinu, which killed one and injured hundreds in Taiwan, is approaching the coast of Guangdong province and that it could bring 300m of rain


Workers lift up a turned-over food cart after Typhoon Koinu passed the southern tip of Taiwan, in Kenting, October 5, 2023 (Reuters).

 

People in southern China are bracing for another big storm that is set to bring heavy rain and strong winds on what looks like a very wet weekend.

Typhoon Koinu – which killed one and injured hundreds in Taiwan, while overturning or sinking over 70 boats in a harbour in the island’s south – is approaching the coast of Guangdong province.

Koinu, which means “puppy” in Japanese, will bring heavy rain along the coasts of Guangdong and neighbouring Fujian province in the next three days, China’s National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said.

The weather centre said Koinu could dump more than 300 millimetres of rain in Guangdong. It also issued a yellow alert for strong winds, the third highest in a four-coloured warning system.

 

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Nearly 400 injured in Taiwan

Typhoon Koinu killed one person and injured almost 400 people in Taiwan, causing some of the most extensive damage on remote Orchid Island off the east coast and home to around 5,000 people, although no one was injured on the island.

More than 70 boats were overturned or sunk in a harbour on the island, while two schools were seriously damaged and power cut due to the typhoon.

Government and air force helicopters flew in engineers to restore electricity and telecommunications on Friday, though the first boats with supplies are not due to arrive on Orchid Island until Saturday morning. Civilian flights remain suspended.

“The situation is very bad, roads broken, cannot pump fuel and cannot buy anything from the convenience store, no food stocks and water. So everyone is collecting rain water for cooking,” Orchid Island restaurant owner Judy Chiu said.

Guangdong province has suspended dozens of ferry routes since late Thursday and the NMC warned tourists to stay away from beach resorts on the last day of a week-long national holiday on Friday.

Typhoon Koinu was travelling around 144 kph off the coast of the southern Guangdong city of Shanwei as of 8am on Friday, the centre said, slowing down from the 252 kph on Thursday in Taiwan.

The typhoon is expected to weaken into a strong tropical storm from late Friday and grow weaker as it heads west along China’s southern coast, it said.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard

 

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Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd papers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before travelling through SE Asia in the late 90s. He was a senior editor at The Nation for 17+ years.