Taiwanese driver recounts his narrow escape during Typhoon Kong-rey

TAIPEI, Taiwan — (AP) — A ride-hailing driver recounted Friday how he had narrow escape when a huge tree smashed onto his vehicle as Typhoon Kong-rey swept over Taiwan, also sweeping away metal roofs and sending landslides onto roads and railway tracks and into houses.

Song Zi-jie had just dropped off riders in Taipei, the capital city, and was stopped at a red light on Thursday night when a tree was uprooted and fell squarely onto the passenger compartment of his car. He felt the roof hit his head and reclined his seat but couldn’t open the rear door. He lay there until police found him.

“I was so frightened that I didn’t know what to do,” said Song, who wasn’t injured despite the extensive damage to his vehicle. “It took me a while to return to normal.”

Two people died, four people are missing and 580 others were injured by Kong-rey in Taiwan. It weakened to a tropical storm after leaving the island but was still bringing heavy rain and windy conditions to Shanghai and nearby parts of China's east coast on Friday.

Kong-rey, which is a Cambodian name, was heading northeast along the coast with winds of 83 kilometers (52 miles) per hour and could make landfall in Zhejiang province before veering back out to sea, the National Meteorological Center said.

Zhejiang authorities evacuated about 280,000 people and opened more than 10,000 emergency shelters ahead of the storm, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Both Zhejiang and neighboring Fujian province also suspended multiple ferry routes.

In Taiwan, a Czech couple who had gone missing while hiking in the mountains were found and airlifted out of Taroko National Park by helicopter on Friday. They told Taiwanese TV network EBC that they hadn't been aware of the approaching typhoon but were able to call for help with their mobile phones and mostly stayed in their tent until rescuers arrived.

The two fatalities in Taiwan were a man hit by a utility pole that fell over when a tree dragged down nearby power lines in Taipei and a Thai woman who was in a small truck that was hit by a tree.

Workers cut and cleared up fallen trees in Taipei on Friday, while schools and offices largely reopened and public services were gradually restored across Taiwan.

The typhoon passed north of the Philippines earlier in the week, prompting fresh evacuations just days after devastating Tropical Storm Trami killed at least 145 people.

Intense rainfall and flooding caused in part by Trami also killed seven people in China and eight people in Vietnam this week, Xinhua reported. The deaths in China were in Hainan province, a southern island known for its beach resorts.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press writer Chris Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed.

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