When rescuers reached Xioalin Village (小林), they found half of it buried under an avalanche of mud and water so deep that not even the roofs of buildings could be seen.
Around half of the 200 homes in the remote mountain village were smothered by mudslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.
“I could hardly believe my eyes,” said Su Shen-tsun, one of the rescuers flown into Xiaolin by helicopter, describing the surreal sight of the village in Kaohsiung County’s Jiaxian Township (甲仙) submerged beneath a brown blanket of mud, rock and uprooted trees.
“The whole village disappeared and even roofs of the houses could not be seen,” Sun said.
Tearful survivors, anxious for news of missing loved ones, wept openly as they met villagers being ferried to safety nearby. Ambulances were on hand to take the injured to hospital.
“My house is gone. We have been trapped for four days and we are scared,” one resident told reporters from an elementary school in nearby Cishan Township (旗山) which was being used as a make-shift airfield.
He was one of about 70 villagers airlifted out on Tuesday.
Another survivor, Wong Ruei-chi, said he had lost 10 relatives in the mudslide.
“I’ve lived in the village for 46 years and I had seen strong winds and rain but I’ve never seen anything as terrible as this,” he said.
“I saw the mountain crumbling in seconds almost like an explosion and bury half of our neighborhood,” Huang Chin-bao, 56, said yesterday after being ferried out of the Xiaolin area by helicopter.
Huang said he and 40 neighbors were guided by his two dogs to higher ground.
“The dogs are our saviors,” Huang said.
Floods and landslides knocked out power in towns and villages across parts of the south, where rescuers were using everything from landing craft to armored vehicles and jetskis to reach stranded survivors.
“We have no water, no food and no electricity,” a 60-year-old man carrying a girl on his back said as he fled the village of Liukuei (六龜) on Tuesday. “I have to get my granddaughter out.”
Rescuers waded through chest-high water in some areas to reach homes, carrying the elderly on their backs or helping them into inflatable boats to escape the floods, caused by a record 3m of rain.
Some survivors piled their belongings on armored personnel carriers or used boats or makeshift rafts to navigate the flooded streets.
Elsewhere, piles of damaged furniture and ruined possessions were dumped in the streets — wreckage from the worst flooding in half a century.
In Taitung County, a scenic tourist spot famous for its hot spring, overflowing rivers destroyed numerous houses.
One woman there was hugging a tearful relative after an emotional reunion.
“I am so relieved that my aunt is alive,” she said on Tuesday.
From the air, the extent of the flooding became apparent, with vast tracts of valuable farmland and wrecked crops lying underwater.
Whole buildings could be seen uprooted from their foundations after rivers breached their banks, spewing floodwaters that swept away bridges and homes.
One survivor, Teng Chung-rung, described the terrifying rumble he heard as a mudslide bore down on his village.
He said he awoke to a noise “as loud as a tank” and ran for his life only to turn around and watch his home being swept away.
“I was frightened to death,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BEN YEH, AFP
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS