At least seven people died and seven others are missing after Typhoon Mindulle cut a swathe of destruction through central and southern Taiwan, officials said on Saturday.
The victims were hit by falling rocks, drowned by rising floods or were buried alive by mudslides, the natural disaster centre said. The missing were carried away by flash floods or lost when their boats capsized, centre officials said, adding six people were injured.
An avalanche of mud and rocks buried a small village in the Nantou region of central Taiwan, while more than 100 houses in Yunlin County and Chiayi in the south were destroyed by strong winds, which lifted a line of railway carriages off the tracks.
More than 15 000 houses were flooded, with some low-lying areas in Taichung and Chiayi reported to have floodwaters rising up to one storey high. The Council of Agriculture reported 532-million Taiwan dollars ($15-million) in lost farm products and livestock.
More than 120 000 homes in central and southern Taiwan suffered from power outages. About 30 landslides were reported on 19 roads, while 17 bridges were damaged, officials said, adding floods and mudslides were also reported in eastern Taiwan.
Although Mindulle passed over Taiwan on Friday, weathermen said they expected lingering monsoon rains to last until Sunday and urged the public to be cautious. The typhoon had battered the Philippines, leaving 30 dead and a dozen missing before hitting Taiwan. — Sapa-DPA