Fanapi Does Kaohsiung

I’ve been cooped up indoors all day due to Typhoon Fanapi hitting Taiwan. I’d never been through a Typhoon before, and now that I have….I think I can be done with them. I spent most of yesterday making preparations, made sure I had flashlight, batteries, food, drinking water…filled the bathtub with toilet flushing water…all those types of things. As of right now, the winds seem to be subsiding and the rain is definitely letting up, so I think the worst of it is over and I’ve had power all day. So, for the most part for me it’s just been a little nerve wracking what, with the windows rattling and wind-driven rain coming in around the windowsills and air conditioning unit.

Here are some preliminary reports…illustrating just how lucky I am to still have power and only a little bit of water in my house:

Power outages struck 313,596 households on the island, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported on its website, adding that electricity was restored at 140,000. Emergency workers evacuated 6,775 people from 11 counties prone to landslides, the Central Emergency Operations Center said.

Fanapi is weakening and slowing as it passes over the island heading for the mainland and is considered “medium- strength,” the weather center said. The eye of the typhoon may cross into the Taiwan Strait by 8 p.m., it said.

Fanapi forced the cancellation of 201 domestic and 73 international flights, according to an e-mailed statement from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The High Speed Rail Corp. stopped all train service, according to the statement, and traffic on 33 roads was blocked as of 4 p.m.

Typhoon Fanapi hit eastern Taiwan on Sunday, leaving at least three people dead in related accidents and knocking out power to more than 50,000 homes, state media reported.

See this special edition of What Up Kaohsiung? for a glimpse at what it was like just before dark and the worst of it hit:

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