IN the east, Typhoon Morakot hit first Tiwan, then China, with unbelieevable amounts of rain - over 7 FEET of water was dumpbed in some locations.
The rain and flooding triggered masssive mudslides, bringing down hhomes and entire apartment buildings. Hundreds are said to be missing, and rescue workers are digging through the mud in a frantic search for survivors.
Raging floodwaters and a deadly mudslide spawned by Typhoon Morakot buried at least 400 people and destroyed hundreds of family homes in Taiwan Monday — the worst flooding the island has seen in half a century.
The typhoon dumped more than 8 feet of rain on Taiwan over the weekend — with waves as high as 26 feet — before moving on to China, where it forced the evacuation of nearly 1 million people
Death toll from Typhoon Morakot in the hundreds The death toll from Typhoon Morakot continues climb, as a landslide triggered by the storm's heavy rains hit the small town of Shiao Lin in southern Taiwan. Shiao Lin has a population of 1,300, and 400 - 600 people are missing in the wake of the landslide. Morakot killed an additional 41 elsewhere on Taiwan, with 60 missing. Earlier, the storm killed 22 in the Philippines, and went on to kill 6 in mainland China, which it hit as a tropical storm with 50 mph winds and heavy rain. Morakot's heavy rains caused an estimated $1.3 billion in damage to China.
Morakot moved very slowly as it passed over Taiwan, dumping near world-record amounts of rain. Alishan in the mountains of southern Taiwan recorded 91.98" of rain over a two-day period, one of the heaviest two-day rains in world history. The world 2-day rainfall record is 98.42", set at Reunion Island on March 15 - 17, 1952. Alishan received an astonishing 9.04 feet of rain over a 3-day period. The highest 1-day rainfall total ever recorded on Taiwan occurred Saturday at Weiliao Mountain in Pingtung County, which recorded 1.403 meters (4.6 feet or 55 inches) or rain. Nine the ten highest one-day rainfall amounts in Taiwanese history were reached on Saturday, according to the Central Weather Bureau.