Typhoon Bilis ravaged Taiwan yesterday, killing 11 people -- including eight villagers buried in a mudslide in Nantou County (南投縣) -- and left one missing in Hualien (花蓮).
At least 101 people were injured, one seriously, and 106 houses were reported to have collapsed, according to the ad hoc Disaster Response Center of the National Fire Administration in Taipei.
The location of six students, who started climbing Hualien's Mamei Mountain (
PHOTO: YANG YI-CHUNG, THE LIBERTY TIMES
Rescuers will start a search for them today and resume one for Dr Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡傑) of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, who was separated from hiking companions at Hualien's Taroko Gorge on Monday.
Speaking in Burkina Faso yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (
"Though I am now in Burkina Faso, my heart is with the people of Taiwan," President Chen said, "and I believe that the Executive Yuan is well able to handle disaster prevention efforts and rescue missions during the typhoon."
Chen also called the National Fire Administration's Typhoon Prevention Center at 11:30pm Taipei time on Tuesday, to learn the latest on Typhoon Bilis after made landfall on the island.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Chen has contacted Taiwan five times over the past two days to express his concern about the storm.
Before departing for Chad, he announced that all scheduled activities aside from the signing of a joint communique and official visits in Chad would be cancelled. Chen said that the government of Chad expressed its understanding and that shortly after completion of his curtailed schedule, he and his entourage would board a plane bringing them home early.
Chen hopes to arrive before 12 noon tomorrow and plans immediate visits to areas devastated by the typhoon.
At the height of the storm, more than 1.1 million households lost electricity, over 41,000 homes lost their water supply and some 40,000 households lost phone services. Taipower (
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) lifted its storm warning yesterday at 5pm, adding that Typhoon Bilis had passed over Taiwan's outlying Penghu (澎湖) islands and was heading toward Xiamen, southern Fujian Province, China, with its center some 140km northwest of Kinmen.
According to flood prevention officials in Jinjiang City, Fujian, the typhoon made landfall yesterday at Jinjiang, where 200 homes had been destroyed by 6pm.
The winds lost power as Bilis proceeded over the mainland, slowing to sustained speeds of 130kph and gusts of 145kph, the CWB said.
The bureau yesterday also warned people in eastern and southern Taiwan to beware of heavy rains and mudflows following in the typhoon's wake.
Airline and railroad schedules in Taiwan were returned to normal yesterday after both were cancelled or delayed during the storm.
Mudslides caused by the typhoon had, however, damaged several highways including Provincial Route Nos. 7A (
A moderate earthquake also shook Taiwan yesterday, but there were no reports of casualties or damage. The storm's impact so far has been more human than economic.
Companies reported little damage or disruption to their operations, and most of Taiwan's technology manufacturers operated on partial shifts and plan to make up lost production through overtime.
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