Helicopters from the National Airborne Service Corps (NASC) on Sunday delivered supplies and evacuated dozens of people who were stranded in Nantou's mountainous Renai Township, in the wake of torrential rain and landslides caused by Typhoon Khanun.
According to the Nantou County government, two NASC helicopters departed early Sunday to deliver 2,000 kilograms of bottled water, canned food, instant noodles, and other basic necessities to seven villages in the township, where water supply and transportation links had not yet been restored.
On the return trip from Renai, the helicopters were deployed to Faxiang Village to evacuate a woman in need of dialysis treatment, the county government said.
Meanwhile, another NASC helicopter evacuated 43 tourists and workers who had been stranded in the Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area since the typhoon began battering Taiwan last week, Legislator Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧) said.
Also on Sunday, a search and rescue team organized by the Nantou and Taichung fire departments found the body of a farmer from Nantou's Jingying Village, who had been missing since Aug. 4.
The man apparently was hit by a landslide when he went out during the storm to check on his crops, the Nantou Fire Bureau said, adding that it was first Taiwan's confirmed death from the typhoon.
In other parts of Nantou, search teams have established contact with a hiker who went missing near Ganzhuowan Mountain, south of Aowanda, but have not yet rescued him, the fire bureau said.
Over the period Aug. 3-4, Typhoon Khanun dumped more than 1,000 millimeters of rain on the rural and mainly Indigenous Renai Township, causing mudslides that buried a gas station and blocked several sections on Provincial highways No. 14 and 14A, as well as county roads No. 71, No. 83, No. 85 and No. 89.
Work is still in progress to reopen the damaged roads and restore basic services to the area.
