00:00At least 17 people have died on Taiwan's east coast after Typhoon Ragasa moved past the country.
00:07A dam in the mountains above the town of Guangfu overflowed due to torrential rain,
00:12causing flash floods that inundated the town below.
00:16Our reporter Irene Lin joins us live from Guangfu.
00:20Irene, what's the situation there?
00:24Laurel is truly a devastating scene here in Guangfu.
00:27There's a thick layer of grayish mud covering much of the town.
00:32Now, the locals told me that the muddy water came out of the blue,
00:35rushing down the streets and into their homes.
00:38Many did not have the time to react and evacuate to higher grounds.
00:42Here's what they said.
00:44We were closed down the door. How much water is so big?
00:48There's so much water.
00:50Later I realized that the car was broken.
00:53I started to climb the water last year.
00:56There was a lot of water in my house,
00:56but there were no ресurans in the water.
00:58Everything was completely empty between the front of the river and the water.
01:04So now I took the water off.
01:09And we used to see the water was very small.
01:11We started to get out of the water,
01:13where it was very short,
01:15as soon as I used to be boiling.
01:16Now, as you can see, behind me is a convenience store that has its display windows shattered by floodwaters.
01:33And just outside the shop is a cargo container stuck at a dangerous angle.
01:39Now, some residents are trying to clean up by shoveling out the mud,
01:43but it's a never-ending job as the rain continues in this area, flooding the streets over and over.
01:51And as of now, authorities have confirmed 17 people dead and over a dozen still missing.
01:57But help from other cities and counties, including the military, is coming in.
02:02Now, they've found over 100 people reported missing and are clearing out the streets using excavators and bulldozers.
02:09So, Irene, officials evacuated thousands of people before the dam burst, but we're still seeing reports of casualties.
02:18How did all this happen?
02:22So, authorities did evacuate downstream villages in three surrounding townships.
02:29And on Tuesday morning, just hours before the dam breached, they expanded that evacuation warning to the broader area.
02:37But many people thought the dam were not breached and they decided to stay put.
02:43And there was an estimated four times more water spilling out from the dam than the officials had expected.
02:49And that's what caused the damage that we see now.
02:54Thank you for that, Irene.
02:55That was Irene Lin reporting from Guangfu in Hualien.
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