Officials warned yesterday that heavy rains brought by Typhoon Dan could set off landslides and inundate camps housing those left homeless by the earthquake two weeks ago. The warning comes amid yet more powerful aftershocks and a death toll that yesterday reached 2,294.
Torrential rains in Dan's outer skirt could erode mountain slopes left unstable by the Sept. 21 earthquake, causing mudslides and stranding villagers in outlying areas, said officials from the Central Weather Bureau. The bureau has issued a heavy rain warning to the island's northern and northeastern mountainous areas.
As of 5:20pm yesterday, the location of the typhoon was 410km south of the Hengchun Peninsula, moving west-north-west at a speed of 17kph. Northern and northeastern mountainous areas have accumulated over 200mm of rain, a bureau meteorologist said. The storm is forecast to pass through the Bashi Channel just south of Taiwan tonight.
Dan roared across Luzon at the Philippines' northern tip yesterday morning with sustained winds of 140kph and gusts of up to 170kph, weather forecasters in Manila said.
Rains could set off flows of a destructive mix of earth and rock capable of erasing towns and sweeping away roads and bridges, forecasters said. Such flows have killed scores here in the past in central Taiwan.
"Typhoon Dan could bring major rain to high mountain areas after it passes Luzon. With those areas already badly hit by the earthquake, this is a matter of major concern," said Wu Teh-jung (吳德榮), Taiwan's deputy chief forecaster.
Taipower also said the storm could hamper efforts to repair quake damage and restore full power to the island.
Dan's rains were certain to bring more misery to camp dwellers in central Taiwan, whose homes were destroyed or made uninhabitable by the quake and who now shelter in tents pitched in parks and school yards.
Weather bureau officials said that central Taiwan will have scattered rains for at least two to three days.
Classes in quake areas will be suspended during the typhoon, and schools, public buildings and empty public housing will be opened to shelter tent dwellers, Premier Vincent Siew (
The bodies of fourteen mountaineers and their bus driver found two days ago along the Central Cross-island Highway, meanwhile, were airlifted yesterday to Fengyuan, Taichung county, where they were greeted by tearful relatives, television footage showed.
The group were all members of the Flying Eagles mountaineering club, and had been en route to climb five peaks in the region when the quake hit, burying them alive in a landslide.
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