totalgenius
Inactive User
Click here for the video.
Rescuers were struggling to find hundreds of Taiwanese villagers tonight after their homes were buried by a mudslide when a powerful typhoon pummelled the island over the weekend.
Bad weather hampered attempts to reach the mountainous village of Hsiao-lin, as a police official said 400 people were missing but a resident who escaped put the figure at 600. The south of the island saw its worst flooding for half a century.
More than 50 people were killed across the Asia-Pacific region and millions more suffered as typhoon Morakot battered the Philippines, China and Taiwan and a separate tropical storm hit Japan.
One million people were evacuated along China's east coast as Morakot brought winds of up to 75mph, torrential rain and waves as high as 8 metres (26ft), toppling 4,000 houses and causing 6bn yuan (£535m) of damage. At least six people died, including a four-year-old boy who was buried when his home collapsed.
Authorities said 7.8 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces were affected by the typhoon, although it was downgraded to a tropical storm as it approached Shanghai.
Village officials in Zhejiang cycled through floodwaters to take drinking water and instant noodles to stranded residents, while rescuers tried to reach eight sailors on a cargo ship blown onto a reef off Fujian, Xinhua reported.
The typhoon killed at least 22 people as it struck the Philippines, before making landfall at Taiwan late on Friday and sweeping across the island on Saturday, claiming at least 15 lives and leaving 55 missing, including two policemen who were washed away while helping to evacuate residents.
In the southern county of Kaohsiung, a police official called Wang told Associated Press that about 400 people from Hsiao-lin were missing.
Wang said about 100 people had been rescued by military helicopter or other means and food drops were also arranged. But bad weather prevented the helicopters from landing and an official, Yang Chiu-hsing, said rescuers could not approach by road because bridges and roads were damaged.
Lin Chien-chung, a rescued resident, said he believed 600 people were buried in the mudslide and that it covered "a large part" of the village.
Richard Hu, an army major-general, told Reuters: "We don't know how many people are there, but homes have definitely been buried."
Tens of thousands are stranded in other areas, Taiwan's fire service said.
In Japan, 13 people died as an approaching tropical storm triggered floods and landslides in the west of the country.
More than 47,000 people in western Japan have been told to leave their homes. The meteorological office warned that tropical storm Etau could bring "extremely heavy rain" to many parts of Honshu – Japan's main island – as it moved northwards. The agency said the storm, which is expected to strike Tokyo tomorrow, was forecast to produce winds of up to 78mph, heavy rain and stormy seas.
At least 12 people died and eight others were missing in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan. Local reports said a 68-year-old woman was killed in a landslide while a nine-year-old boy was reported missing.
"Cars that were parked on the road got all washed away all the way to the station," one resident said. Another said: "Everything toppled over in the house. It's a complete mess."
Mudslide buries 600 Taiwan villagers | World news | The Guardian
Rescuers were struggling to find hundreds of Taiwanese villagers tonight after their homes were buried by a mudslide when a powerful typhoon pummelled the island over the weekend.
Bad weather hampered attempts to reach the mountainous village of Hsiao-lin, as a police official said 400 people were missing but a resident who escaped put the figure at 600. The south of the island saw its worst flooding for half a century.
More than 50 people were killed across the Asia-Pacific region and millions more suffered as typhoon Morakot battered the Philippines, China and Taiwan and a separate tropical storm hit Japan.
One million people were evacuated along China's east coast as Morakot brought winds of up to 75mph, torrential rain and waves as high as 8 metres (26ft), toppling 4,000 houses and causing 6bn yuan (£535m) of damage. At least six people died, including a four-year-old boy who was buried when his home collapsed.
Authorities said 7.8 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces were affected by the typhoon, although it was downgraded to a tropical storm as it approached Shanghai.
Village officials in Zhejiang cycled through floodwaters to take drinking water and instant noodles to stranded residents, while rescuers tried to reach eight sailors on a cargo ship blown onto a reef off Fujian, Xinhua reported.
The typhoon killed at least 22 people as it struck the Philippines, before making landfall at Taiwan late on Friday and sweeping across the island on Saturday, claiming at least 15 lives and leaving 55 missing, including two policemen who were washed away while helping to evacuate residents.
In the southern county of Kaohsiung, a police official called Wang told Associated Press that about 400 people from Hsiao-lin were missing.
Wang said about 100 people had been rescued by military helicopter or other means and food drops were also arranged. But bad weather prevented the helicopters from landing and an official, Yang Chiu-hsing, said rescuers could not approach by road because bridges and roads were damaged.
Lin Chien-chung, a rescued resident, said he believed 600 people were buried in the mudslide and that it covered "a large part" of the village.
Richard Hu, an army major-general, told Reuters: "We don't know how many people are there, but homes have definitely been buried."
Tens of thousands are stranded in other areas, Taiwan's fire service said.
In Japan, 13 people died as an approaching tropical storm triggered floods and landslides in the west of the country.
More than 47,000 people in western Japan have been told to leave their homes. The meteorological office warned that tropical storm Etau could bring "extremely heavy rain" to many parts of Honshu – Japan's main island – as it moved northwards. The agency said the storm, which is expected to strike Tokyo tomorrow, was forecast to produce winds of up to 78mph, heavy rain and stormy seas.
At least 12 people died and eight others were missing in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan. Local reports said a 68-year-old woman was killed in a landslide while a nine-year-old boy was reported missing.
"Cars that were parked on the road got all washed away all the way to the station," one resident said. Another said: "Everything toppled over in the house. It's a complete mess."
Mudslide buries 600 Taiwan villagers | World news | The Guardian
