Typhoon Gaemi leaves 2 dead, 279 injured

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Typhoon Gaemi has so far left two people dead and 279 others injured, according to the Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) on Thursday.

The two deaths, which were both reported on Wednesday, included a female scooter rider who was struck by a falling tree in Kaohsiung's Fengshan District and a woman in Hualien County who died after being hit by a falling parapet wall.

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On the same day, there was another death involving a ward chief in New Taipei's Sanxia District, but the city's emergency center did not count it as linked to the typhoon, the CEOC confirmed at a meeting held in the morning.

According to the New Taipei Fire Department, after an evaluation of the case, it was determined that the man's death had not been caused by strong wind or rain.

As of 8 a.m., Typhoon Gaemi has left 279 people injured in different parts of the country, including 72 in Kaohsiung, 43 in Tainan, 32 in Taichung and 32 in Hualien County.

Since Gaemi began affecting Taiwan the previous day, a total of 4,511 typhoon-related incidents had been reported nationwide as of 8 a.m. Thursday, the majority of which involved trees falling while others were about damage to electricity poles or other public infrastructures, the CEOC said

As a safety precaution, a total of 11,756 people across 15 cities and counties in Taiwan have also been evacuated from their homes due to the typhoon, it said.

Gaemi also drew thousands of people to observe the huge waves along Taiwan's shores. According to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), wave-watchers who fail to heed three repeated warnings to leave the shoreline faced a fine of between NT$50,000 (US$1,527) and NT$250,000.

As of 6 a.m. Thursday, there had been a total of 167 reported cases of flooding around Taiwan, including Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Yunlin, the CEOC said, noting that some 40,129 homes in Kaohsiung and Yilan are still without electricity due to outages caused by the typhoon.

Emergency personnel also rescued crew members from two foreign-registered freighters that ran aground in waters near Tainan's Anping District and Fangshan Township in Pingtung.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to rescue crew from the Tanzania-registered freighter Fu-Shun, which capsized 19 nautical miles off the coast of Kaohsiung.

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