Typhoon Megi finally left Taiwan. My area has been without power for around 36 hours. WHile not as powerful as last year’s Soudelor and Hujuan, Megi still packed quite a punch.
Mountains in our region of Yilan recorder above 1000mm of rain in less than 24 hours, similar to what happened during typhoon Soudelor. Luckily, Megi was not as strong in terms of wind so damage was in general not as bad.
Apart from power and water outage, some traffic and road lights are gone. Of course there has also been some damage to crops, though this region is not exactly rich in fruits and the rice season is well over.
The Yilan river was unusually large and fast flowing, which is to be expected when nearly 1 meter of rain suddenly drops in the mountains all around us.
Scaffoldings and store signboards had a really rough time. I’ve also seen a water tank in the middle of the road, it probably fell from a building and rolled around for a while. I know something about that, because the two water tabks of my building met a similar fate last year: one of them was dislodged from its place and got stuck on the roof, while the other simply took off and was never found again.
Trees are used to typhoon winds, but sometimes even concrete cannot hold them. This tree in particular was already leaning to a side last year, and Megi probably gave it the final blow. I still hope they’ll manage to put it back in place, most of the roots were still intact.
I went outside by bicycle and while the traffic was very reasonable, the lack of traffic lights turned my small ride into a new chapter of The Hunger Games.
All in all, it was not too bad. I mean, Megi on its own was a fairly powerful typhoon that kept blowing hard long past the center of the storm got past the mountains. It’s hard to forget what we experienced during Saudelor and Dujuan though, two of the strongest typhoons ever recorded in this region that made the whole countryside look pretty much like a war zone.
Soon to come: typhoon sunset pictures and a video ot the typhoon from start to finish.
I’m still very short on my GoFundMe project: https://www.gofundme.com/2czw6wqk so nay help sharing it will be hugely appreciated.
Posted by Thomas 'Bis" Passarini | Filed under Photography, Taiwan: A Picture a Day