Taiwan cleans up as remnant of Typhoon Kong-rey brushes Chinese coast

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TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan cleared up and offices and financial markets re-opened on Friday after the powerful Typhoon Kong-rey swept through the island causing two deaths and snarling transport, as the remnant of the storm brushed the Chinese coast.

Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan’s mountainous and sparsely populated east coast on Thursday afternoon, the largest storm by size to hit the island in nearly 30 years. It then worked its way across central Taiwan before entering the Taiwan Strait and moving north.

The fire department put the death toll at two – one person whose truck was hit by a falling tree in central Taiwan, and another in Taipei who was hit by an electricity pole. It also reported 515 injuries.

More than 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) of rainfall was recorded in the eastern mountains during the typhoon and gusts above 130 kph (80 mph) swept the Taipei metropolitan area Thursday night into Friday, knocking down more than 2,000 trees and hundreds of street signs.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te warned people to watch out for the whip in the tail of the storm, including in the Taiwan-run Matsu islands off China’s coast.

“We still have to remind everyone that the typhoon’s periphery will still affect all parts of the country, especially people in Matsu and mountainous areas around the country, and they should pay attention to localised heavy rainfall,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Workers in Taipei gradually removed fallen trees which snarled traffic, delaying the arrival of some ministers for a parliament session.

In the Taroko National Park in Hualien county, rescuers flew to safety in a helicopter two Czech hikers who had been trapped by the typhoon.

Flight disruptions continued on Friday, with 58 international flights cancelled along with 139 domestic ones, though the north-south high speed rail link resumed normal operations.

Heavy rain is forecast for the rest of Friday in parts of central and southern Taiwan.

Even after losing power as it traversed Taiwan, Kong-rey remained a severe tropical storm as it entered the Taiwan Strait, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to the coastal Chinese province of Fujian.

Kong-rey will likely not make landfall in China but is expected to quickly swing back into the open sea later on Friday towards Japan.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Fabian Hamacher, and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Lincoln Feast.)