Torrential rain in Taiwan causes 3 deaths, 50 injuries; 4 people still missing

Taipei, Aug. 3 (CNA) Three people have died and four are missing, while 50 injuries have been reported, as torrential downpours have been pummeling Taiwan for the past week, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said Sunday.

The three deaths occurred on July 30 and 31 as a result of vehicle accidents during bad weather -- two in Kaohsiung and one in Nantou County -- according to CEOC data valid as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

One of the fatalities was a 57-year-old man who drowned on July 31 when he rode into a heavily flooded street in Nantou that had been closed off by police, the county's police department said. Twenty minutes later, his body was found submerged in two meters of floodwater on the road, the police said.

The other two deaths occurred on July 30 when a vehicle carrying a family of five plunged into a ravine along Provincial Highway No. 20 in Kaohsiung during bad weather, the CEOC said.

Two bodies were recovered, while three of the passengers remained missing as of Sunday, according to the CEOC.

The fourth missing person is the rider of a scooter that was found along Provincial Highway No. 29 in Kaohsiung's Qishan District on Saturday, the CEOC said without elaborating.

The two highway sections in Kaohsiung have been closed pending repairs, and only emergency disaster relief vehicles are allowed to drive through there, the CEOC said in a statement issued after a meeting at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, 50 people across Taiwan have been injured in incidents related to the torrential downpours, including more than 20 in Kaohsiung and about 12 in Changhua County, according to the CEOC.

As of Sunday afternoon, a total of 5,795 residents across Taiwan had been evacuated, and 588 of them were being housed in 36 shelters, the CEOC said.

Twenty of the 36 shelters have been stocked with supplies that can last for up to 10 days, as they are in areas that could be cut off due to bad weather, the CEOC said.

Also on Sunday, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) inspected the CEOC headquarters in Taipei and received disaster briefings via video conferencing from Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), Chiayi County Magistrate Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁), and Pingtung County Magistrate Chou Chun-mi (周春米).

Chen suggested that funding for relief from the current disaster be included in a special bill proposed by the Cabinet for recovery and rebuilding of southwestern Taiwan in the wake of Typhoon Danas, which hit the area in early July.

In response, Premier Cho said the Cabinet will take into consideration the recent disasters caused by heavy rainfall -- over 2,000 millimeters in mountainous areas of Kaohsiung -- before the bill is reviewed by the Cabinet on Thursday and later sent to the Legislature.

At about midday Sunday, the Central Weather Administration issued advisories for extremely torrential rain in the mountainous areas of Kaohsiung, Tainan and Pingtung until Monday morning, warning that the accumulated rainfall in those areas could exceed 500 mm in a 24-hour period.