Friday 03 August 2012 | The Telegraph
The downpours unleashed by slow-moving Typhoon Saola flooded low-lying areas in Taiwan
and paralysed life across broad swathes of the densely populated island.
In Sanshia township, Taipei county, surveillance camera footage showed a man dropping into a hole
and being buried by debris after a road collapsed beneath him.
The man's body was recovered hours later after rescue workers searched the scene.
Officials said the road's foundations had been washed away by floodwaters from the river close by.
A reporter from local network ETTV was sent fleeing during her live broadcast when more of the road
began collapsing behind her.
Watch Surveillance Camera Footage:- http://youtu.be/6W3fydtkXLo
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=ttt.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/ttt.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Typhoon Saola, which killed 23 people in the Philippines earlier this week, has already been blamed by
local media for seven deaths in Taiwan, though the official toll puts the death count at three.
Dozens of flights were cancelled at Taipei's main international airport, where heavy winds destroyed
two jetways, and rail transport throughout the island was disrupted.
By Thursday afternoon, Saola was centered on the northeastern county of Ilan, where rescuers were
using rubber boats and amphibious vehicles to evacuate hundreds from flooded homes.
They were also seeking to locate at least six stranded residents, cut off from the rest of their farming
community when flood waters overwhelmed a small bridge.
Saola was expected to pass north of the capital, Taipei, later on Thursday before moving out to sea
en route to the Chinese mainland, 100 miles (160km) to the west.
The downpours unleashed by slow-moving Typhoon Saola flooded low-lying areas in Taiwan
and paralysed life across broad swathes of the densely populated island.
In Sanshia township, Taipei county, surveillance camera footage showed a man dropping into a hole
and being buried by debris after a road collapsed beneath him.
The man's body was recovered hours later after rescue workers searched the scene.
Officials said the road's foundations had been washed away by floodwaters from the river close by.
A reporter from local network ETTV was sent fleeing during her live broadcast when more of the road
began collapsing behind her.
Watch Surveillance Camera Footage:- http://youtu.be/6W3fydtkXLo
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=ttt.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/ttt.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Typhoon Saola, which killed 23 people in the Philippines earlier this week, has already been blamed by
local media for seven deaths in Taiwan, though the official toll puts the death count at three.
Dozens of flights were cancelled at Taipei's main international airport, where heavy winds destroyed
two jetways, and rail transport throughout the island was disrupted.
By Thursday afternoon, Saola was centered on the northeastern county of Ilan, where rescuers were
using rubber boats and amphibious vehicles to evacuate hundreds from flooded homes.
They were also seeking to locate at least six stranded residents, cut off from the rest of their farming
community when flood waters overwhelmed a small bridge.
Saola was expected to pass north of the capital, Taipei, later on Thursday before moving out to sea
en route to the Chinese mainland, 100 miles (160km) to the west.
