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 Typhoon death toll mounts as mud, water block rescuers

(CNN) -- Roads covered with mud, debris and floodwater foiled rescuers trying Wednesday to reach mountain villages in southern Taiwan, the area hardest hit by Typhoon Morakot, a spokesman for the nation's disaster-prevention agency said.

Rescuers and soldiers try to cross a swollen river in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan, on Wednesday.

Leng Chia-yu said that by late Wednesday, the government had counted 103 deaths, 61 people missing and 45 injured from the storm, which dumped up to 83 inches of rain on some parts of the island, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In Kaohsiung County, a group of firefighters marched for eight hours to reach remote villages where they delivered food and supplies, said Taiwan Red Cross spokesman Christian Li.

The organization has been helping the government dispense food, water and other necessities from a central command center, where helicopters are loaded up for their humanitarian missions, he said.

One pilot said helicopters rescued 115 people Wednesday, far short of the goal of 350.

Shu Yue Hao told CNN she was forced to flee her home in the village of Jia Mu after rain inundated it and seven other houses. Appearing tired, she was taken to a rescue shelter.

"I leave everything up to God," she said.

Earlier in the day, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou toured the Jiadong and Linbian townships in Pingtung County. He later visited Kaohsiung County, where a wall of mud inundated and cut off the village of Shiaolin.

Most of the missing are from Kaohsiung County, said Leng, a section chief for the National Disaster Prevention and Protection Commission.

In Kaohsiung, Taiwan's Interior Ministry said Wednesday, 200 people were trapped in the village of Namahsia and 38 -- including 18 who were injured -- were rescued by helicopter, while in the village of Maolin, where 200 to 300 people were feared trapped, rescue workers were forced to suspend operations because of bad weather.

The ministry also reported Wednesday that 1,500 people were in urgent need of aid in Liugui in Kaohsiung County. It said the air force had rescued 14 people from that village, including one who was injured.

Ma instructed government officials to "put themselves in the shoes of the victims who are suffering as a result of the disaster," according to an online news release from his office. "He urged everyone to do their best in carrying out the enormous job of reconstruction in the days ahead." 

Ma showed special concern for Shiaolin, because of the severe damage.

"Therefore, the president said he is monitoring the situation with a heavy heart," the news release said.

The president asked that special attention be paid to soil composition when structures are built.

"Higher construction standards should be put in place so that a major flood in the future will not result in such extreme destruction," he said.

Leng said Ma visited the emergency operations center in Taipei the first few nights after the typhoon started impacting the island overnight Friday into Saturday.

The bodies of three people aboard a helicopter that crashed Tuesday in the mountains of Pingtung County were recovered Wednesday, the National News Agency reported.

Taiwan's semi-official Central News Agency reported earlier that as many as 700 people were stranded. 

The emergency center said 10,944 people had been relocated. It said Taiwan had opened 151 shelters that were housing 8,338 displaced people. Others are thought to have sought shelter with relatives and friends.

Taiwan's postal service announced Wednesday that all aid donations sent to Red Cross branches and the governments of Pingtung and Taitung counties would be delivered free until August 20.

After hitting Taiwan, Morakot roared on to mainland China and created chaos there, killing at least six people and displacing 1.4 million, authorities said.

source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/weather/08/12/taiwan.typhoon/index.html?iref=newssearch