Typhoon Gaemi – the largest storm to hit Taiwan in nearly a decade – struck Yilan County on the country's east coast in the dead of night. Wind, rain and waves have left hundreds displaced and rattled the rural county's economy.
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00:00Over on the East Coast, hundreds of people had to leave their homes.
00:04Rick Lauert has been following rescue and relief efforts in Yilan and joins us now.
00:09So we're here at a township office in Su'ao.
00:13It's doubling as an evacuation shelter and a center for relief efforts.
00:19Here we're just about 20 kilometers away from where that typhoon made landfall, bringing
00:23those huge winds, gusts of more than 100 kilometers per hour, big waves, and of course
00:29torrential rain.
00:31At this township office, more than 20 people have had to stay the night because it's not
00:35safe for them to stay in their homes.
00:38And we've been talking to those that have been seeking shelter here.
00:43Fifty-five-year-old Lili Chuan is counting the cost of Typhoon Kaimi.
00:47Both her house and this restaurant she owns with her husband on Taiwan's East Coast were
00:51in the path of the deadly storm.
00:53Just recovering from heart surgery, she doesn't know how she'll be able to afford both her
00:57mounting medical bills and these repairs.
01:24Lili spent the night on the floor of this township office, sheltering from the torrential
01:29rain and gusty winds of 100 kilometers per hour with others from her village.
01:35Evacuation centers like this are housing the hundreds of people that have been displaced
01:39by the typhoon across the country.
01:42And Taiwan's military have been taken off scheduled annual war games to help bring people
01:47to safety.
01:48But the people of Yilan are bracing themselves for the economic shock of this typhoon.
01:54With a population of more than 400,000, rural Yilan relies on rice farming, fishing and
01:58tourism for much of its economy.
02:01But fields are now flooded and ships were forced to shelter in harbors.
02:07Typhoon Kaimi is now heading away from this area.
02:09But officials warn that continued heavy rain is increasing the risk of landslides, especially
02:14with mountain slopes here already destabilized by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in April.
02:37Kaimi is the strongest storm to make landfall here in nearly a decade, leaving its mark
02:42on this fertile area known for producing some of the best rice and seafood in the country.
02:47Nature's bounty now violently disrupted by the elements.
02:52So aside from those hundreds that have been evacuated, there's also been extensive damage
02:57to property and infrastructure.
02:58We've seen signs ripped off buildings.
03:01We've seen roofs ripped off buildings.
03:03We've seen toppled trees on almost every road that we've driven through.
03:06And of course, there's also damage to buildings to the extent that some of them are deemed
03:11unsafe for people to live in.
03:13On top of that, more than 20,000 homes have lost electricity over the last few hours.
03:18Most of that has been restored now.
03:20And the typhoon is, of course, moving away from this area.
03:23It's heading west towards China.
03:25So officials here are hopeful that they can start reopening some of those mountain roads
03:29that they closed for safety and restoring rail services to their full capacity.
03:33But word from officials here is there is still a lot of danger out here and for people to
03:37stay off the streets as they get on with the job of clearing up the mess.