According to the latest reports the Taiwanese president confirmed that the total number of casualties caused by the flood and mudslides could cross 500. Out of the total 500 people killed, 400 are from a single village. The village of Hsiaolin was hit by a massive mudslide that leveled all but two houses. One can only realized the magnitude of the damage that has happened in Hsiaolin after visiting the place. The village has been converted into a river bed with no structure standing. The entire village has been engulfed by a mud avalanche and is expected to be 20-30 meters deep. It is expected that nearly 400 people are still buried under the mud at the village site. The mud avalanche was so strong that it took with it a 17 meter bridge. The rescue teams reaching the site have a mammoth task ahead for them, they have not got a single clue on where to start digging. Even if they would have reached the site in time, they still would have not been able to do much.

In the last few days thousands of people have been moved to safer shelters by airlift, yesterday alone 2000 people were airlifted to safer locations. Most of the effected areas are in the mountains and the only way to reach them is by helicopters. As the weather is clearing the authorities are speeding up the rescue process. Most of the roads and bridges connecting these locations have been totally destroyed. As many as 34 bridges and 253 sections of road have been destroyed by flooding and it will take a minimum of three years to rebuild them.

Typhoon Morakot caused damages worth US $ 910 million and the reconstruction cost could well exceed US$ 3.65 billion. As the Typhoon passed over the island nation it unleashed more then 200 cm of rain which caused massive flooding and mud avalanches.