It was not only New York City that was pummeled by the cold spell. Asia felt it too, and among those severely affected were Taiwanese. As of Sunday night, 85 Taiwanese have died because of the sudden dip in temperature, of whom 35 were from Taoyan in norther Taiwan.
The Taoyan City Fire Department believes that the cause of death of seven people on early Sunday was hypothermia or cardiac arrest because of the sudden change in temperature, reported CNA. The cold front also claimed 28 people in the past two days considered dead on arrival at the hospital and attributed to cardiac arrests that happened elsewhere.
There were 16 similar incidents in Kaohsiung since Friday, according to the city’s fire bureau. All the victims, rushed to the hospital already lifeless, were elderly people aged between 65 and 93 years old.
In Taipei and New Taipei, the death toll for the same reasons hit 31 victims as the temperature plummeted to 4 degrees Celsius in the northern part of Taiwan on Sunday. It was the coldest in 44 years, according to The Guardian.
In Japan, there were five deaths due to the cold, while in China, all-time low temperatures were recorded from Friday through Sunday such as in Eergu’Na in Inner Mongolia where the temperature plummeted to -46.8 degrees Celsius. Firefighters had a very busy day helping people who slipped and injured themselves on icy roads.
Besides taking the lives mostly of seniors, who were advised to keep warm and stay indoors, the cold snap also cancelled flights across the region, causing thousands of tourists to be stranded in the resort island of Jeju in South Korea.