Taiwan reports dozens injured, widespread damage in wake of Typhoon Haikui
Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Haikui took two swipes at Taiwan before moving back out to sea on Monday after injuring nearly 80 people and causing widespread damage across the country.
Despite the intensity of the storm, no deaths were reported by Taiwan's Central Emergency Operation Center.
The agency, however, said 78 people sustained injuries, including 23 in Kaohsiung City, 20 more in Taitung County, and another 13 in Tainan City.
Haikui, which was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm early Monday, crossed southern Taiwan twice before starting its trek northwest at about 6 mph. It was located 43 miles south-southwest of the Penghu islands as night fell.
When the storm's first pass hit Taitung, a mountainous county in a less populated eastern Taiwan, damage could be seen along its coast.
Emergency officials reported that 217,000 homes started the day without electrical power on Monday while more than 1,000 structures were damaged. The number of those without power fell to 58,000 as the day went on.
Haikui -- the 11th typhoon this year -- had been tracking to cross the Taiwan Strait toward mainland China, where Fujian and Guangdong provinces were put on alert for gale-force winds and torrential downpours by China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
