Chishan (Taiwan): Hundreds of people were stranded on Wednesday in villages dotting Taiwan's mountainous regions after Typhoon Morakot unleashed its fury over the weekend and caused the worst flooding in a half-century.
Morakot dumped 83 inches (2.1 meters) of rain on parts of the island, unleashing the worst flooding there in half a century, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Buildings collapsed in the floodwater, and mudslides buried everything in their paths.
After hitting Taiwan on Saturday, the storm roared on to mainland China, killing at least six people and displacing 1.4 million, authorities said.
Yet the death toll was much higher in Taiwan, where Morakot was blamed for at least 66 deaths. Figures from the Central Emergency Operation Center said the storm had injured 35 and at least 61 were missing, not including the hundreds trapped in debris.
In northern Taiwan, mud slithered down a mountainside, sweeping up trees and rocks and carrying them into valleys below. In the south, a wall of mud inundated and completely cut off the village of Siaolin, burying houses.
Officials said as many as 100 people might have been buried alive in Siaolin; residents feared the number was higher.
Continuing rain had hampered rescue efforts, but the weather showed signs of letting up Wednesday, allowing better access to those in need of help.
Kaohsiung County was particularly hard-hit.
Taiwan's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that 200 people were trapped in that county's village of Namahsia and 38 were rescued by helicopter. Among the rescued, 18 were injured.
In the village of Maolin, where 200 to 300 people were feared trapped, rescue workers were forced to suspend operations because of bad weather.
Earlier, Taiwan's semi-official Central News Agency reported as many as 700 people stranded.
The ministry also reported on Wednesday that 1,500 people were in urgent need of aid in Liugui. It said the air force had rescued 14 people from that village, including one who was injured.
Authorities had found shelter for 8,900 of 10,576 people who were left homeless by the storm, said spokesman for the National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission, Wang Ke Jang. But disaster struck even as efforts continued to help victims.
A rescue helicopter crashed in the mountains in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County on Tuesday, tumbled into a river and was washed away. A government spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that all three crew members aboard were dead.
Morakot felled bridges and turned roads into standing swamps, making them inaccessible to search-and-rescue teams.
The United States is "very concerned" about the situation, but had not received a request for aid from the Taiwanese government, Assistant Secretary of State PJ Crowley told reporters on Tuesday.
"We are a formidable asset to the region. ... As you have seen going back to the (2004) tsunami, we respond in a timely way to these tragedies," he said.
Helicopters were dropping food, medicine and water to help keep people alive, as they awaited rescue. Wang said reservoirs were overflowing, and people were piling sandbags wherever they could.
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