Videos show Super Typhoon Krathon lashing Taiwan

Scenes of the destruction caused by Super Typhoon Krathon on Taiwan are going viral on the internet.

The storm was the strongest to hit the East Asian island in nearly eight years. Although Krathon weakened slightly before making landfall, it still caused significant damage, leading to widespread power outages, flooding, and evacuations.

The southern part of the country bore the brunt of Krathon's fury on Thursday. The major port city of Kaohsiung was no exception and was the focus of some of the most dramatic footage shared widely on social media. Newsweek wrote to the Taiwanese Interior Ministry for comment.

One such video, captured by a 7-Eleven surveillance camera in the western Gushan district at 1:05 p.m., shows three employees frantically pushing against the glass door, trying to keep it closed.

But a strong gust tears the door off its hinges and drives the employees and the shelves into the back of the store. According to local media, the three were not seriously injured.

Convenience stores are often among the few stores that remain open during typhoons in Taiwan, providing people in desperate need with a last chance to stock up on supplies. In another video doing the rounds, a man can be seen creeping forward in a crouched position, shielding himself with his umbrella as he tries to cross the street.

Elsewhere in the city of 3 million, roofs were blown off metal buildings built years ago on top of existing homes. It is now illegal in Taiwan to build such cheap accommodation, which is considered unsafe.

Down in the city's harbor, a camera captured shipping containers pushed off the top of a stack like building blocks.

The capital Taipei, located at the other end of the island and surrounded by mountains, was relatively untouched, but other parts of the north were not left unscathed.

In neighboring Keelung, footage emerged of floodwaters rushing through the coastal town. One such video shows two people struggling to recover an overturned motorcycle in knee-deep, muddy water.

Taiwan's Central Weather Administration reported that Krathon had weakened and the agency had lifted its typhoon warning for affected areas.

Nearly 100,000 households, mostly in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County in the east, were still without power as of Friday, according to reports. Another 129,000 people in Kaohsiung were cut off from water supplies.

According to Taiwanese fire authorities, the death toll that day was two, 667 were injured and one person was missing.