Tropical Cyclone Kong-Rey bombarded Taiwan with torrential rainfall and widespread flooding on 29th August. The worst hit areas were the west coast and southern provinces. In the space of 24 hours, Pingtung county saw almost 65cm of rain. Flood waters reportedly reached second-story levels on buildings in Taiwan’s west coast cities of Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung. Tainan City saw over 60cm of rain fall in 24 hours.
So far press reports say 3 people have died in the floods and over 3,000 people have been evacuated form their homes. In Pingtung county a man drowned after being thrown into a river after his motorbike skidded from the flooded road. In Yunlin county, two women died in flood-related incidents.
This is the second time in as many weeks that Taiwan has been hit by a major storm. Torrential rain and flood warnings remained in effect earlier today, although Kong-Rey is expected to move towards Kyushu, Japan and is forecast to approach the Japanese coast some time on 31st August 2013. Taiwan was hit by flooding in July this year after tropical storm Soulik brought heavy rainfall to the region. Kaohsiung city and Pingtung county were badly affected.
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Sources: ABC News
