Typhoon Nanmadol passes through Taiwan
A typhoon has flooded homes, roads and farmland in Taiwan, bringing more than 20 inches of rain.
Typhoon Nanmadol stayed over Taiwan for only a few hours and was weaker than when it pummelled the Philippines, where at least 16 people died and another eight were missing.
One death in Taiwan was attributed to the storm – a motorcyclist hit by debris - and disruption to everyday life was extensive.
The storm has now left the island and is heading to south-eastern China.
About 30,000 households in southern and eastern Taiwan lost power, 8,000 people were evacuated and scores of roads and bridges were closed due to the heavy rain.
Offices and schools were closed in the south east as well as in the capital, Taipei, which escaped the brunt of the storm.
In a south-western county, civil defence crews used small boats to rescue people from communities inundated by flash flooding. Dozens of homes were flooded.
CTI cable news station footage showed the aftermath of landslides in Pingtung township and several homes partially submerged by water.
Pingtung is just south of the mountainous regions where more than 500 people died two years ago in mudslides spawned by torrential rains associated with Typhoon Morakot, the most devastating storm to hit the island in half a century.
A slow government response to that catastrophe prompted a fusillade of criticism aimed at President Ma Ying-jeou, who is up for re-election this January.
After Morakot, Mr Ma said he was reorienting the major mission of the island’s armed forces toward disaster relief and away from defending against a possible Chinese invasion – the two sides split amid civil war in 1949.
The change was evident over the weekend, as the military dispatched troops and rescue equipment to vulnerable areas, unlike during Morakot.
The typhoon, slow-moving with an enormous cloud band, drenched the northern Philippines for days before pummelling it with fierce winds.
Landslides, flooding and collapsed walls caused many of the casualties, officials there said.
