TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Strong winds felled trees and scattered debris as a large typhoon crossed over Taiwan on Tuesday, killing four people and injuring more than 160, officials said.
Typhoon Megi’s bands of heavy rain and 162-kilometers- (100 miles-) per-hour sustained winds blanketed the island by midafternoon as the eye of the storm made landfall on the east coast. Authorities had raised alert levels for the island prone to landslides and flooding, said National Fire Agency Director-General Chen Wen-lung.
The 167 injuries include eight Japanese tourists hurt in tour bus that turned on its side in central Taiwan. The four deaths were from fatal falls and a truck crash, said Lee Wei-sen, a spokesman for Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operations Center. Many of the injuries were from falling and wind-blown objects.
Megi is 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter, and rainfall had topped 300 millimeters (12 inches) in the south and eastern mountains.
“The rainfall problem will get increasingly severe as the storm passes over,” Lee said. “We’ve got to see whether the amount of rain has a big impact. The only good news is that it’s moving fast on its way over Taiwan.”