Taiwan clears up, slowly re-opens after hit from Typhoon Krathon
Krathon downgraded to a tropical depression
Kaohsiung works to clear flooding, downed trees
Transport mostly resumed, some flights still cancelled
Death toll remains at two, both on east coast
Adds details from the scene in Kaohsiung, paragraphs 4, 5, context on typhoons hitting Taiwan, paragraph 10
By Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Ann Wang
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan, Oct 4 (Reuters) -Southern Taiwan worked on Friday to clear up damage from flooding and high winds after Typhoon Krathon slammed into a major metropolis, while most of the rest of the island resumed work and financial markets re-opened.
Krathon, now downgraded to a tropical depression, made landfall in the southwestern portcity of Kaohsiung, inundating streets with water, blowing out windows in some buildings and sending debris flying as record-breaking winds hit.
While the rest of Taiwan resumed work on Friday, local governments in Kaohsiung and neighbouring Pingtung county declared another day off work - the fourth in a row - to remove downed trees, pump out floodwaters and remove detritus from roads.
Workers used cranes to remove downed trees and traffic signs in Kaohsiung, a city and surrounds of2.7 million people, with some roads blocked and drivers and pedestrians diverted.
"Sandbags didn't work. The wind pressed the water in anyway," said Clark Huang, 49. "Fortunately it lasted only a couple of hours and then we started cleaning up."
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, writing on his Facebook page, said some parts of the city got more rain than during the last storm, Typhoon Gaemi, in July.
"Given the long duration of the storm, coupled with the strong winds and heavy rain, the city government is doing its best to repair the damage," he wrote.
Tsai Ming-an, a 51-year old engineer, was cleaning up his house after flooding of about 20 cm (7.8 inches) came into his entire house on the ground floor.
"I have never seen winds like that. It was so bad," Tsai said.
Typhoons almost always hit Taiwan's mountainous and sparsely populated east coast which faces the Pacific Ocean, but Krathon, unusually, struck its flat west coast.
Power remained down on Friday for 100,000 households, almost all in Kaohsiung and Pingtung.
The fire department said the death toll was unchanged at two, both men killed on the east coast before the typhoon made landfall, with one person missing and 667 injuries.
Taiwan's north-south high speed rail line re-opened, as did most ordinary rail routes apart from two branch lines, though there was continued air transport disruption, with 13 international and 85 domestic flights cancelled.
At Kaohsiung port, some freight containers were blown off their stacks and workers were clearing them to ensure operations went unaffected, the transport ministry said.
Kaohsiung airport suffered damage to two air bridges, while the airport on the outlying Orchid Island had landing aids washed away, though both facilities remained open, the ministry added.
The government also said it was investigating the cause of a Pingtung hospital fire that broke out as the typhoon was bearing down, killing nine people.
Reporting by Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Ann Wang; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry and Lincoln Feast.
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Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
