Typhoon Kong-Rey Brings Fresh Storm Damage to Taiwan

Typhoon Kong-rey, the latest in a string of storms to hit Taiwan, is bringing record winds, intense rain and fresh damage.

Transcript

00:00Rockslides, mudslides, and flooding.

00:04Hualien County, on Taiwan's east coast, has seen plenty of all three

00:08over what's been a rough typhoon season.

00:10And even now, at the end of October, it's not over,

00:13as Typhoon Kongrei barrels straight into the country.

00:16Trains are shut, and in some areas, roads are washed out too.

00:24In the county's rugged interior, rockslides have hit homes too.

00:28Residents of at least two indigenous villages in Hualien County's mountains

00:31have had to evacuate.

00:33There were similar scenes in many areas,

00:35as schools and businesses nationwide shut for the day.

00:38As the typhoon landed, other transport services,

00:40like parts of the Taipei Metro, shut down too.

00:43And over 200 flights were cancelled from Taoyuan International Airport.

00:47Meteorologists say this is not a typhoon to be taken lightly.

00:59The military is not taking chances.

01:01It's wrapped up a week of drills early,

01:03and is shifting troops to disaster relief.

01:06And at a virtual meeting with local officials across the country,

01:09President Lai Ching-teh said it's already time to start thinking

01:12about recovery and reconstruction.

01:29This is an action.

01:33In other words, the central government and local disaster response centers

01:37need to take care of disaster recovery

01:40so that our people can return to normal life.

01:44And Lai said that means not just physically rebuilding damage,

01:47but also economic relief for farmers,

01:49who face ruin from the latest in a string of powerful typhoons

01:52to hit the country in what's been a stormy year.

01:55Eason Chen and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.