Several hours after torrential rain flooded Kaohsiung County on Sunday as Typhoon Fanapi hit the nation, about 20 patients in an elderly care center were found immersed in water, prompting Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) to seek out those responsible for the mishap.
When a rescue crew arrived at the Pu Te Elderly Center in Gangshan (岡山), they found 29 elderly patients, some of whom were bobbing up and down in flood water.
In the first 48 hours of the typhoon, Gangshan reportedly received 950mm of rain, most of it in the first six hours.
PHOTO PROVIDED COURTESY OF THE TAIWAN RED CROSS
After water started flooding houses in the area at about 5pm on Sunday, the county government’s 119 emergency reporting center at the Fire Department received a call at 7:07pm, in which the caller told them that about 30 elderly people at the care center were stranded by the flooding.
Using rubber boats, a team of 11 rescue workers was dispatched to the center, where they immediately started moving the elderly to the second floor.
They also discovered that the owner of the center was absent. Only a chef and two migrant workers were at the center with the patients. The 29 patients were relocated to nearby hospitals and other care centers.
“Silence reigned in the house. No one was calling for help or groaning, maybe because they were terribly scared by the flooding, or maybe they were simply exhausted,” rescue worker Hsiao Shun-fu (蕭順福) said.
Hsiao said he saw about 20 elderly people immersed in dirty floodwater that reached a height of 1m. Hsiao was filled with horror at seeing some of them shivering from the cold.
During a visit to some of the flooding victims relocated to the Show Chwan elder care center, Yang demanded that the county government “impose a heavy penalty” on the owner of the Pu Te elderly center.
Wu Li-hsueh (吳麗雪), director of the county government’s Bureau of Social Affairs, said leaving elderly patients alone with insufficient nursing personnel during a typhoon highlighted serious deficiencies, as did the absence of the owner of the center.
Upon learning of the incident on Tuesday, Yang said the care center’s license could be revoked.
Lin Kuang-chieh (林光杰), the owner of the center, said he would not accept the government’s decision to shut him down because he dialed 110 and 119 at about 5pm asking for help.
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