Taiwan rescuers battle thick mud to look for those who went missing amid storm
\n Masbate City
\nThe Philippines evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and confirmed at least three deaths Friday as a severe tropical storm battered the country, still feeling the effects of Super Typhoon Ragasa.
\nCivil defence officials in southern Luzon\u2019s Bicol region said three people had been killed as walls collapsed and trees were uprooted by Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi, which is sweeping west by northwest at sustained speeds of 110 kilometres per hour.
\nEvacuees in one province took cover under pews as the roof of a church where they were sheltering was ripped by the storm.
\n\u201cAround 4am, the wind destroyed the door, the windows and the ceiling of the church,\u201d Jerome Martinez, a municipal engineer in southern Luzon island\u2019s Masbate province, told AFP.
\n\u201cThats\u2019s one of the strongest winds I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d he said, adding some children had suffered minor injuries requiring stitches.
\n\u201cI think more people will have to evacuate still because many houses were destroyed and many roofs were blown away. They are now blocking the streets and roads.\u201d
\nAround 400,000 people have been evacuated, Bernardo Alejandro, a civil defence official, said at a Friday press briefing.
\n\u201cWe are clearing many big trees and toppled electric posts because many roads are impassable,\u201d Frandell Anthony Abellera, a rescuer in Bicol\u2019s Masbate City, told AFP by phone.
\n\u201cThe rain was strong, but the wind was stronger.\u201d
\nVideos shared on social media and verified by AFP showed people using boats or trudging through waist-deep water to navigate flooded streets further south in the central Philippines\u2019 Visayas islands.
\nPublic anger
\nThe Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, putting millions of people in disaster-prone areas in a state of constant poverty.
\nScientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the world warms due to the effects of human-driven climate change.
\nAuthorities warned Thursday of a \u201chigh risk of life-threatening storm surge\u201d of up to three meters (10 feet) with the coming storm.
\nThousands also remain displaced in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Ragasa, which passed over the country\u2019s far northern end and killed at least nine people earlier in the week.
\nThe storms come as public anger seethes over a scandal involving bogus flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
\nTaiwan rescuers look for missing
\nRescue workers in Taiwan battled through thick mud on Friday, looking for 11 people still missing after Super Typhoon Ragasa this week sent a wall of water into a small town on the east coast.
\nThe flooding\u2019s death toll held steady at 14.
\nThe heavy rains in Hualien county caused a so-called barrier lake in the mountains to overflow on Tuesday and release a thick sludge of water and mud on the town of Guangfu.
\nWhile the flood waters have receded, the dark grey mud continues to blanket large parts of the area, creating problems for residents and rescuers alike.
\nRescue workers, sometimes wading in mud up to their waists, have been cutting holes in the roofs of buildings to check for missing people.
\nA man who gave his family name as Hwang said he was still looking for his elder sister\u2019s body.
\n\u201cShe died in the house because it was completely filled with mud and there was no way to get her out,\u201d he said.
\nMany of the deaths occurred on the first floors of houses after people, often elderly, were unable to follow government orders to move upstairs and out of the way.
\nHuang Ju-hsing, 88, has been trapped inside his second-floor home after the flooding blocked access to his family-run grocery store downstairs.
\n\u201cThere was no time to escape. We told him to hurry up and go upstairs,\u201d said his wife Chang Hsueh-mei, who has been able to scramble over the wreckage downstairs and get outside.
\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re faced with an emergency, you suddenly find the courage to do anything,\u201d said Chang, 78, after climbing through aisles of fallen objects to reach her husband. Mountainous, sparsely populated and largely rural, Hualien is one of Taiwan\u2019s top tourist destinations due to its wild beauty.
\nWhat to do about the barrier lake, formed by earlier typhoons and which has now shrunk in size to only 12% of what it was before the disaster, remains an unresolved issue.
\nBarrier lakes are formed when rocks, landslides or other natural blockages make a dam across a river, normally in a valley, blocking and holding back water, hindering or even stopping natural drainage.
\nThe government has ruled out using explosives to break through the bank holding up the water, fearing it could bring more landslides and worsen the situation.
\nThe disaster has not impacted Taiwan\u2019s crucial semiconductor industry, located on the island\u2019s west coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taiwan rescuers battle thick mud to look for those who went missing amid storm Masbate City The Philippines evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and confirmed at least three deaths Friday as a severe tropical storm battered the country, still feeling the effects of Super Typhoon Ragasa. Civil defence officials in southern Luzon\u2019s Bicol region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-505242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n