Thousands Without Power After Haikui Batters Taiwan

Taiwan worked on Monday to restore power to more than 30,000 homes after Typhoon Haikui barrelled into its South and East, where schools and businesses were shut.

The first typhoon to directly hit Taiwan in four years, Haikui made landfall on Sunday in the island’s mountainous and sparsely populated far South-East, before moving across the South.

State-run utility the Tai Power, said it knocked out power to more than 240,000 households but by Monday, fewer than 34,000 were still waiting for electricity to be restored, about half of them in the Eastern county of Taitung.

Classes were cancelled and workers given the day off across Southern, Eastern and Central Taiwan, while Taipei, the Capital, received sporadic gusty rain showers.

Fire officials reported five injuries from the typhoon but were still trying to ascertain if the death of a man found by a roadside in Taitung was linked to it.

Taiwan airlines cancelled 208 domestic flights, leaving just a handful scheduled, while ferry services to surrounding islands were suspended.

International flights, with just 23 cancelled, suffered less disruption, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.

REUTERS