Typhoon Danas kills two, injures hundreds in Taiwan; Woman killed during storms across northern Italy

Typhoon Danas kills two, injures hundreds in Taiwan; Woman killed during storms across northern Italy
by AFP Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) July 7, 2025
Typhoon Danas battered Taiwan's west coast early Monday, killing two people, injuring hundreds and leaving nearly 400,000 households without electricity, authorities said.

The storm brought "destructive" gusts of up to 222 kilometres (138 miles) per hour to southwest Taiwan, where it made landfall late Sunday, the Central Weather Administration said.

"This was the first time on record that a typhoon made landfall in Chiayi (county), it was a very unusual path," the forecaster from the weather agency said.

The storm moved northward near Taiwan's west coast overnight and left Taiwan early Monday morning, but extremely heavy rain continued.

At least 491 people have been treated for injuries, according to the National Fire Agency.

A 60-year-old man died after a power outage at home caused his ventilator to stop functioning and a 69-year-old man was killed by a fallen tree when driving, the agency said.

The storm caused widespread power outages across Taiwan, affecting around half a million households, it said. Nearly 400,000 homes remained without power on Monday morning.

Danas dumped more than 500 millimetres (20 inches) of rain across southern Taiwan over the weekend, the weather agency said.

Nearly 3,500 people were evacuated from their homes, mostly in mountainous areas around the southern port city of Kaohsiung, firefighters said.

Thirty-three international flights from Taiwan were cancelled on Monday.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October.

Woman killed during storms across northern Italy
Rome (AFP) July 6, 2025 - A falling tree killed a woman during storms that swept across northern Italy Sunday, the emergency services reported.

The storms came after a week-long heatwave across Italy, where the authorities in several cities declared a red-alert for extreme weather, judging that the temperatures were life-threatening even for people in good health.

Fire services had been called out 50 times to deal with damage from the wind, rain and resulting flooding Sunday, the fire services said on X.

They said a woman in Robechetto con Induno, just west of Milan, "died due to the fall of a tree".

Several regions of northern Italy are still on "orange" alert, one level below the top, red-alert level for extreme weather.

On Saturday, heavy rains forced Bergamo airport, northeast of Milan, to reroute 13 flights.

On Sunday, the regional capital of Lombardy, Milan, was bombarded with heavy rain and grail, leading to several interventions by the fire services. All the city's parks were closed as a safety precaution.