Taiwan hardest hit by Typhoon Morakot

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Relief efforts were hampered by mud-covered roads and floodwater in Taiwan, hard-hit by Typhoon Morakot, Taiwan's disaster-prevention agency said Wednesday.

Morakot then hammered down on mainland China, killing at least six persons and displacing 1.4 million people, authorities said.

The government reported 103 deaths, 61 people missing and 45 injured, CNN said.

The storm unleashed up to 83 inches of rain on parts of the island, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The agency said 10,944 people had been relocated and Taiwan had opened 151 shelters to take in 8,338 displaced people.

The Red Cross has helped dispense supplies from a central command from which helicopters departed for their relief missions, the news service reported.

There were desperate attempts throughout the day to rescue stranded people in remote villages, One pilot said helicopters rescued 115 people Wednesday but the goal had been 350.

Firefighters walked for eight hours in Kaohsiung County to bring food and supplies to far-flung villages, Christian Li, a Taiwan Red Cross spokesman, said.

Helicopters rescued 38 people stranded in the village of Namahsia in Kaohsiung County, but CNN reported 200 remained stranded. In the village of Maolin, where 200 to 300 people were believed trapped, rescue workers had to cease operations due to the weather, the news service reported.

Taiwan's Interior Ministry reported 1,500 people urgently needed aid in Liugui, also in Kaohsiung County. It said the air force rescued 14 people from the village.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou instructed government officials to "put themselves in the shoes of the victims who are suffering as a result of the disaster" in the village Shiao-Lin and asked that "everyone to do their best in carrying out the enormous job of reconstruction in the days ahead."