Straight into the record books!

Taiwan records world's 3rd highest wind gust during Typhoon Koinu

As Typhoon Koinu's storm circle enveloped Taitung County's Orchid Island at 9:53 p.m., the Orchid Island weather station measured a gust of 95.2 meters per second or 342.72 kph (212.95 mph), exceeding level 17, the top of the Beaufort scale, CWA reported. The Taitung weather station said the measurement broke Taiwan's 126-year record and the anemometer was damaged.

According to Huang, this measurement was the highest seen in the 126 years since anemometers were first installed in Taiwan in 1897. In addition, such was the force of the winds generated by Koinu "the anemometer then broke down."

One question is, if the meter broke, how do they know the wind didn't go any higher?