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TAIPEI : Seven people were killed, six were missing and six more injured as Tropical Storm Kalmaegi lashed Taiwan on Friday with strong winds and heavy downpours, rescuers said.
A one-year-old girl and her teenage uncle were killed while her 27-year-old pregnant mother was slightly injured when their house in the southern county of Kaohsiung was hit by a mudslide late Thursday, the National Fire Agency said.
"It happened so fast... I didn't have time to save them," the woman's husband told ERA News after they were airlifted to safety.
In central Taichung, an army captain fell into a gutter in his barracks amid bad weather and drowned, the fire agency said.
Six people went missing in southern and central Taiwan, including a couple whose boat capsized as they were being rescued from a flooded area, it said.
The storm was 70 kilometres (43 miles) east of Matsu island at 2:30 pm (0630 GMT), packing winds of up to 83 kilometres an hour, the weather bureau said.
Kalmaegi was downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it bore down the east coast Thursday night, the bureau said.
Television footage showed residents in various parts of southern and central Taiwan battling rising floods and some roads were blocked or damaged by heavy rain.
Offices and schools in several central counties were shut while some 3,600 fishermen sought shelter at ports, authorities said.
The storm also disrupted land and air traffic. Many rail services were cancelled and nearly 20 local and international flights were suspended or delayed.
Kalmaegi also ravaged fields and farms, causing an estimated 111 million Taiwan dollars (3.65 million US) in agricultural loss, the government said. - AFP/ms
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