Rescuers today recovered a man's body in Hualien County's Guangfu Township (光復), bringing the confirmed death toll from Super Typhoon Ragasa to 18, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said.
Seven people remain missing, and 107 people have been injured nationwide.
Soldiers found the body while searching a river bank near Kalotong (加里洞), about 7km downstream from Fozu Street in Guangfu, one of the areas hardest hit by massive flooding on Tuesday last week caused when the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake collapsed.
Photo: CNA
The body was badly decomposed and could not be immediately identified, authorities said.
The missing include a gravel pit owner, a retired professor and several residents. Search teams today concentrated on Fozu Street and nearby gravel pits, where several people remain unaccounted for, authorities said.
As of 9:20am, 788 disaster incidents had been reported across Taiwan — 736 of them in Hualien, the CEOC said.
There are six shelters in Guangfu accommodating 652 displaced residents, while nearly 2,500 soldiers with heavy equipment are clearing roads, delivering relief supplies and conducting search operations, authorities said.
The Mataian River barrier lake remains unstable. Its water level has dropped 118.5m since Tuesday, leaving just 6.1 million tonnes of water, only 6.7 percent of its original capacity.
The red alert for the barrier lake would remain in place due to unstable slopes in the area and continued inflows, officials said.
Meanwhile, flood defenses in Guangfu are being reinforced with temporary levees after multiple dikes were damaged, officials said.
Rebuilding the Mataian Creek Bridge would proceed in stages, starting with the construction of an emergency culvert road that is expected to be completed by Oct. 15, the CEOC, said, adding that a steel bridge would be built by January next year, with a permanent structure completed late next year.
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