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TAIPEI: Thousands of workers continued search and rescue operations on Saturday after tropical storm Kalmaegi wreaked havoc across Taiwan, leaving 15 dead and ten missing, officials said.
The casualties from floods or mudslides were reported in worst-hit central and southern Taiwan, where up to 950 millimetres (37 inches) of rain fell in less than two days, said the National Fire Agency.
A baby girl and her teenage uncle were killed when their house tumbled under a mudslide while her pregnant mother was rescued with minor injuries.
An army captain drowned after falling into a gutter in his barracks amid bad weather, while one couple died when the boat they were being rescued in capsized.
Nearly 60,000 government and civilian rescuers have been mobilised on rescue missions, with 87 people evacuated to safety, the agency said.
But ten people, believed to have been washed away by floods or buried alive, remained missing while eight others were injured, it said.
Meanwhile, the Central Weather Bureau has come under criticism for underestimating the impact of Kalmaegi, downgrading it from a typhoon to a tropical storm late Thursday.
"The forecast predicted the storm to be weakening but the downpours it generated caught everyone off guard," President Ma Ying-jeou said when asking the bureau to review its system late Friday.
However, the bureau denied it was to blame.
"In a weather forecast the margin of error is inevitable," the bureau's weather forecast centre director Wu Teh-rung told reporters.
The bureau urged residents in central and southern Taiwan to guard against further downpours although the storm was moving towards the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian.
Kalmaegi also ravaged fields and farms, causing an estimated 316 million Taiwan dollars (10 million US) in damage, the government said.
Television footage showed swollen rivers and flooded streets in various parts of the island as the storm disrupted traffic, electricity and water services.
- AFP/so
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