TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Danas brought heavy winds and torrential rains to parts of Taiwan on Monday, killing two people and injuring more than 300 on the island’s densely populated west coast.
The typhoon lost intensity as it moved into the Taiwan Strait on a forecast path to mainland China.
The typhoon knocked out power for more than 580,000 households, and schools and offices were closed across southern and central parts of Taiwan.
Danas made landfall on the west coast late Sunday with maximum sustained winds of 144 kph (89 mph). It dumped more than 60 centimeters (24 inches) of rain in places, causing landslides and flooding.
Two deaths were reported in the southwestern city of Tainan, according to the National Fire Agency. One person died when their vehicle was struck by a falling tree, while another died after his respirator malfunctioned due to losing power.
At least 334 people suffered injuries, while more than 3,400 people were forced to evacuate – mostly from mountainous areas around the southern port city of Kaohsiung.
Areas of southern and eastern China made preparations ahead of the storm. Authorities in southern Guangdong province called hundreds of vessels to port and evacuated more than 2,000 people from offshore facilities. Two cities in the eastern Zhejiang province suspended ferry services and construction work.
Danas earlier intensified seasonal monsoon rains in the Philippines’ northern mountains, flooding low-lying villages and forcing more than 3,000 people to flee to emergency shelters.
Taiwan routinely sees typhoons between July and October, but they are more common on its sparsely populated eastern coast facing the Pacific.
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Associated Press video journalist Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan, writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and news researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
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