50,000 households still without power in Tainan after Danas

Tainan, July 9 (CNA) Nearly 50,000 households in Tainan remained without electricity Wednesday following extensive damage to the city's power infrastructure from Typhoon Danas, according to Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲).

"Taipower has been working tirelessly around the clock," Huang told reporters, referring to Taiwan's state-owned power company.

"But as of noon, there are still nearly 50,000 households without power in Tainan," he said, adding that it could take "four to five days" to restore supply in remote areas of the city's northern Beimen District.

The storm, which made landfall Sunday in neighboring Chiayi County, broke or toppled more than 600 utility poles across the city, Huang said.

"The scale of the damage exceeds the disaster in Pingtung County caused by Typhoon Krathon last year," Huang said.

According to the mayor of the southern city, Taipower mobilized crews from across Taiwan, starting repairs from the main power lines and working outward to the most remote locations.

However, thunderstorms in the morning triggered new outages in areas where power had only just been restored, Huang said.

He also thanked Kaohsiung, New Taipei and Taoyuan for dispatching both personnel and equipment, saying their support reflected "the spirit of mutual assistance between cities."

Taipower said it has sent teams from 11 counties and cities to support repairs in Tainan, adding that a cumulative total of 178,260 households lost power in the city as a result of the storm.