Taiwan Records World’s 3rd Most Powerful Wind Gust Ever as Typhoon Koinu Hits

By Staff, Agencies

A category four cyclone has produced one of the strongest wind gusts ever recorded worldwide, and injured almost 200 people as it crossed the southern tip of Taiwan early on Thursday.

Typhoon Koinu brought wind gusts of up to 95.2 metres per second, or 342.7km/h [212.9mph] when it crossed Taiwan’s outer Lanyu [Orchid] island on Wednesday night. The Central Weather Administration [CWA] told the Guardian it was the highest wind gust recorded in Taiwan since the organisation was founded in 1986. The gust destroyed the island’s anemometer, the CWA said.

The gust appears to be the third-strongest recorded globally. In 1996 Western Australia’s Barrow Island recorded a 408km/h gust, which broke the record set in 1934 when a 372km/h gust was recorded in the US on Mount Washington in New Hampshire.

Koinu, which means “puppy” in Japanese, made landfall on the Hengchun peninsula in Taiwan’s far south as a category four typhoon. Fire services reported 190 people were injured, mostly in west coast cities, including Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. Chiayi’s emergency operation center said some of the injured included people who were riding their scooters and fell in the strong winds or were hit by falling branches. More than 62,000 homes and businesses were without power by midday Thursday.

Waves of up to seven meters were reported, and videos online show significant damage to houses and shopfronts along coastal areas.

The storm prompted authorities to close schools and offices across much of Taiwan, although the capital, Taipei, operated as normal. Ferries and domestic flights were suspended or cancelled.

Koinu is the second typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan this year, after Haikui hit the island in September, prompting landslides, mass evacuations and dozens of injuries. No typhoon had directly hit Taiwan for four years, despite its location in an active tropical storm zone.