Typhoon Kong-rey causes 3 deaths, 690 injuries

Taipei, Nov. 2 (CNA) Typhoon Kong-rey had caused a total of three deaths, 690 injuries and over 10,000 recorded instances of damage across Taiwan as of Saturday afternoon, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC).

The first death was a 56-year-old female foreign national who died after the vehicle she was in was struck by a falling tree early Thursday in Nantou County.

The second was a 48-year-old man who was struck by a falling utility pole while he was riding his motorcycle in Taipei, also on Thursday.

The third death was a migrant worker who fell off a work platform in Taoyuan's Guanyin District on Thursday. Efforts to resuscitate the individual at hospital failed, with the incident confirmed to be related to the typhoon by Taoyuan Fire Department Saturday morning.

In addition, there have been a total of 10,831 reported cases of damage, with trees falling into streets and roads the most common, the CEOC said.

Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, Keelung cities and Hualien County set up a total of 10 shelters for the typhoon, with 155 people still there.

Three places remained cut off from the wider world. Road links to the Smangus Tribe in Hsinchu County have been cut by a broken bridge, while roads to the Qrahu Tribe in Taoyuan and the Xibao area in Hualien were blocked.

The Smangus Tribe has sufficient supplies to last 10 days, according to the CEOC.

Meanwhile, several roads were obstructed due to collapsed surfaces, damaged roadbeds, landslides or fallen trees in Taichung and Nantou. They were being repaired and expected to reopen to traffic early next week, said the CEOC.

More than 63,000 households have experienced water outages, with water supply expected to be restored to the remaining 1,240 households in Hualien by 8 p.m. Saturday.

More than 950,000 households have seen electricity outages, of which power supply is expected to be restored to the last 32,000 by 5 p.m. Sunday, the CEOC said.

As of 11 a.m. Saturday, agricultural losses totaled over NT$480 million (US$15 million). Hualien and Yunlin counties suffered the most losses, with NT$150 million and NT$170 million respectively.

The most damage was caused to rice crops, followed by garlic, food corn, custard apples and peanuts, according to the CEOC.