Taiwan's North Coast Counts the Cost of Typhoon Krathon

Northern Taiwan continues to count the cost of Typhoon Krathon, even though the storm itself has dissipated.

Transcript

00:00It took over 50 firefighters several hours to free a man trapped behind this northern

00:04Taiwan house after a sudden landslide hit.

00:07He was clearing the muck Typhoon Kwai Ton left in the space between his back wall and

00:11a mountain slope.

00:13Despite being pinned to the ground by a boulder, he was conscious and able to talk.

00:17To save him, firefighters had to tear down this wall.

00:36Scenes like this played out across northern Taiwan well into Friday.

00:39Though the typhoon made landfall on the opposite side of the island, it still brought record

00:44rainfall all the way here, enough to overwhelm even this famously rainy corner of the country.

00:50In the Ruifeng district, where over a hundred centimeters of rain fell in just two days,

00:54firefighters had to use a rope pulley system to send food to an indigenous village cut

00:58off by landslides, enough for the more than 100 residents trapped there.

01:03They also managed to help someone needing dialysis clamber down the mountainside using

01:06the same ropes to steady himself.

01:08Though everyone is fine for now, the community's leader says the storm damage has been immense.

01:13Even an important cultural space, where locals hold their harvest festival, was damaged.

01:29And it isn't just the rural mountains suffering.

01:32The port city of Heilong has seen major landslides in residential areas, leaving people there

01:36frightened.

01:37Although the storm itself has dissipated, its effects may be felt for a long time to

01:51come.

01:52Klein Wong and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.