Star Metro - Taiwan lake flood victims spend second night in shelters

The lake in eastern Hualien county -- formed by series of landslides that created a natural dam wall -- gave way Tuesday and the resulting flood washed away a bridge and swept into the town of Guangfu, leaving a trail of thick sludge and mud.

At least 14 people were killed and 46 injured with authorities trying to confirm the number missing after the flood, according to an update from the Hualien County Government late Wednesday.

Wrecked cars and scooters lay by the roadside or piled on top of each other by the floodwaters, with furniture scattered along the streets.

Residents said the mud was too much to clear by themselves with more help for the cleanup expected Thursday.

"Almost everything is ruined... three refrigeration units, two stalls, machines, the oven, even the household fridge," Chuan Kun-jui, a local butcher, told AFP, shovelling the sticky mud by the collapsed booth of his shop.

Around 1,200 people were taking refuge in shelters and nearly 3,300 had been evacuated from areas around the lake.

At a church shelter, residents queued for dinner boxes at the entrance. Inside, elders rested on wooden pews while children played.

"This is our second night here. Comfortable or not ... being safe is enough, it doesn't matter where we sleep," Kaniw ‧ Looh, a church elder, 64, told AFP.

He addressed the crowd in the local Indigenous language, the mountain valley town Guangfu being home to Indigenous communities.

"Indigenous people are resilient. When it (disaster) comes, we look after and help each other," he said.

In the church kitchen, Zack Lee, a chef from New Taipei City, said he and others had organised online and travelled by train to help.

"We just wanted to do our part. Houses were flooded, and there was was no hot food, this is what we know how to do," Lee said.

In areas around the barrier lake, 3,285 people were evacuated and around 1,200 people were staying in shelters.

Levels at the lake had fallen dramatically after it lost about three-quarters of its water in the overflow, the National Fire Agency said, leaving more than 4,000 people in the area without water supplies.

"The whole township still has no water, we are surviving on rainwater and bottled water."Shih Hui-mei,54, a relief volunteer told AFP.

Maggie Huang, who runs a local tourism business, said the town's taps had run dry and the church tank had run out.

"No one can have a shower, there's no water at all," she said.

She said she would sleep through the night with her husband and teenage child at the church, before checking her house and finding where her car had been swept away to.

"Everyone wants to go home," Huang said.

"This is our home. Where else could we go?"

A.Desjardins--SMC