Central and Southern Taiwan Clean Up After Typhoon

Central and southern Taiwan are trying to get back on their feet after Typhoon Danas, but more bad weather could complicate matters.

Transcript

00:00The cleanup after Typhoon Danas is now a national affair.

00:04The military is helping remove the fallen trees that litter Taiwan's west coast from the center to the south.

00:10And some cities spared from the worst of the storm, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, and Taoyuan, have sent teams and equipment to help, too.

00:18There's still a long way to go before life gets back to normal at the center of the damage path.

00:22Even three days after the typhoon passed, some people are still stunned at what they saw.

00:30Cars are ruined, basements flooded, streets are washed out, and everywhere there are uprooted trees and utility poles mixed in with rubble.

00:43Work to restore power and water has made major progress, with most of the grid back online.

00:48But around 68,000 homes are still in the dark.

00:51Many people around the region have felt despair these past few days.

01:00Some of the worst damage has been to agriculture.

01:09Losses across the country are expected to hit around 55 million U.S. dollars.

01:14And it's not just crops.

01:16The many fish farms that dot the mid to southern west coast are seeing mass die-offs,

01:21as they remain cut off from the power needed to run the oxygenators for the ponds.

01:25Some in the industry feel ignored by those who could help them.

01:29Schools and workplaces remain closed across much of Taiwan, even in some places not so hard hit.

01:44There are two problems.

01:46One is that schools or campuses didn't escape the storm's fury.

01:49By one count, over 550 schools and museums suffered some kind of damage.

01:54But secondly, the rains haven't let up, as unstable weather takes over where the typhoon left off.

02:01For much of Thursday, the entire south of Taiwan is under a rain advisory.

02:05For some residents, the worst of a week of extreme weather may not yet be over.

02:09Andy Xie and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus