Watch as record-breaking typhoon blows shed off roof, sends metal flying in Taiwan
Typhoon Koinu made landfall along the southern tip of Taiwan on Thursday, Oct. 5. The storm brought record-breaking winds and rain, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
A weather station on Lanyu (Orchid) Island recorded wind gusts of about 212.9 mph — the fastest wind speed ever recorded in Taiwan and the third-fastest in the world, the Central Weather Administration told The Guardian.
The measuring device broke soon after recording these speeds, Central Weather Administration officials told Focus Taiwan.
The typhoon injured 190 people and left over 62,000 homes without power, Focus Taiwan reported.
Video footage shared by Taiwan’s Central News Agency Southern Regional Group shows a metal shed blowing off a roof. Another video shows power lines leaned or entirely fallen onto the road. Tree branches appear almost horizontal in the wind, the video shows.
Footage shared by The Independent shows a large metal piece flying down a street. Containers, shelves, stools and a fan are seen scattered across the road in another video.
Another clip shows a man walking to what appears to be a tipped-over market stall cart. He rounds the corner, the wind whipping his clothing, before darting back behind the structure. Video shows the wind spin the structure, crashing into the man and knocking him over.
“Flying glass” from the storm killed one person in Taichung, Al Jazeera reported.
A video shared by The Guardian shows a beach covered in debris. The rubble includes small objects and several larger structures.
Although the worst of the typhoon hit southern Taiwan, the storm circle affected the central and eastern areas, Taiwan News reported.
Sally Jensen Cusicahua, a journalist with Taiwan Plus News, shared a video of the aftermath on Twitter, now rebranded as X. The video shows a damaged street in Kenting, with debris that includes metal structures, a cylinder and what appears to be an industrial kitchen unit.
Kenting is on the southernmost tip of Taiwan and on the opposite side of the island from Taipei.
“I have never seen Kenting main street in such a bad shape,” a food truck owner told Reuters, according to the translated captions of a YouTube video.
The video shared by Reuters shows a street littered with tree branches, fallen signs and garbage.
Heavy rain is expected to continue across Taiwan through Friday, the Central Weather Administration said.
This story was originally published October 5, 2023 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Watch as record-breaking typhoon blows shed off roof, sends metal flying in Taiwan."
