Tropical Storm Fung-Wong to leave Taiwan, killing one

A tropical storm that killed one and injured five in Taiwan will leave the island as early as Monday, Taiwan's meteorology authority said Sunday.

Fung-Wong, which hit the island's southernmost tip on Sunday morning before moving northward along the eastern coasts, brought fierce gales and dumped more than 500 mm of rain in the southeastern regions, according to Taiwan's weather bureau.

A 50-year-old man drowned in the downpours when cleaning the gutters in front of his house in southeastern Taitung, while five others were injured, including a mainland tourist hurt in a billboard collapse in Tainan, the island's emergency operation center said.

At 8:30 p.m., the storm was centered about 40 km to the northeast Hualien, moving northward at a speed of 20 km per hour, the weather bureau said.

The central and southern parts of the island will continue to see showers on Monday despite the departure of the eye of the storm, the weather bureau forecast.