As reported in previous blog posts, extreme storm chaser James Reynolds of typhoonfury.com had positioned himself on the island of Taiwan for the purpose of intercepting Typhoon Morakot. James was able to maneuver to the city of Hualien, where he documented the full force of the category-1 eyewall. Sustained winds of ~ 90 MPH and gusts of around 115 MPH were reported by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The winds from Morakot are almost not even worth mentioning, though, as the real problems stemmed from the 83 INCHES of rain the slow-moving storm dumped on the island. [Click READ MORE for continued story]

As a result, Taiwan, which is a little larger than the state of New Jersey, is seeing the worst flooding in 50 years, and a very bad situation has been unfolding since the weekend as a number of mass-wasting events were triggered by the torrential rains. Settlements in the central and southern part of the island have been wiped out by mudslides and landslides. Although thousands have been rescued and there is still hope of finding survivors buried under the debris from these events, hundreds are feared dead. Bridges and roads are either unsafe for travel or gone altogether, further complicating the continued rescue efforts, and the Taiwanese government has appealed to the international community for equipment and support to reach survivors.