Super Typhoon Ragasa: 14 killed in Taiwan, several missing; Hong Kong braces for impact
Sub-tropical Taiwan, frequently hit by typhoons, normally has a well-oiled disaster mechanism that averts mass casualties by moving people out of potential danger zones quickly.
PTC News Desk: Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai called on Wednesday for an inquiry into what went wrong with evacuation orders in an eastern county where flooding from a breached mountain lake during a strong typhoon killed 14, as fresh warnings spooked residents.
Sub-tropical Taiwan, frequently hit by typhoons, normally has a well-oiled disaster mechanism that averts mass casualties by moving people out of potential danger zones quickly.
At least 14 people have been killed and 124 remain missing in Taiwan after a barrier lake burst its banks amid downpours from the outer bands of Super Typhoon Ragasa.
The storm, the world’s strongest this year so far, has brought several Asian megacities to a standstill. Streets were empty in Hong Kong as the storm brought waves taller than lampposts to its promenades.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Hong Kong’s international airport, schools were shut and shelves in supermarkets emptied across several cities in China.
The storm, described by forecasters as the most powerful on Earth so far this year, was packing maximum sustained winds of 185kmph and gusts up to 230kmph, according to the Philippine weather agency Pagasa.
The typhoon is forecast to keep its current strength before weakening slightly as it approaches China’s coast today.
Earlier, the storm lashed the Philippines, killing at least three people as its bands triggered widespread flooding and landslides.