TAIPEI: Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris on Friday (Nov 1) after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the island in decades claimed at least two lives.

Typhoon Kong-rey’s wind speed reached 184 km/h When it hit eastern Taiwan on Thursday, it toppled trees, caused flooding and triggered landslides as it ripped through the island.

The National Fire Service said that a 48-year-old motorcyclist died due to a falling power pole in the capital Taipei on Thursday, the death toll in the storm increased to two, and more than 500 people were injured.

Search efforts are continuing for four people who went hunting in the mountains in central Taiwan on Wednesday and have not been heard from since that evening.

The Central Weather Administration said Kong-rey strengthened into a severe tropical storm on Friday as it moved across the Taiwan Strait towards China.

in Taiwan, life was returning to normaloffices, restaurants and schools are reopening.

“The typhoon was very strong yesterday,” Pan Li-chu told AFP at his restaurant in Taipei, where the awning was buckled by the wind.

“The trees at the primary school there were uprooted. The big banyan tree was also uprooted,” he said.

The Central Weather Administration said Kong-rey dumped more than a meter of water in some of the hardest-hit areas along the east coast.

A fire official in the storm-hit Taitung district told AFP there were no reports of “serious damage”.

“The power outage is mostly caused by trees falling down and hitting power poles,” said the official, who gave only his surname Huang.

“There have been four cases of floods reported and they have all receded. There are also three cases of landslides reported, one of which is near the tunnel and we are currently confirming this.”