Heavy rain has intensified the disaster situation in Ren'ai Township. To prevent casualties, the Ren'ai Township Office carried out a mandatory evacuation of 348 people yesterday. Even residents with mobility issues were carried out of landslide-prone areas by soldiers. According to police in Nantou, a group of six — four men and two women led by tour guide Lin Maokun — entered the mountains from Dongyang, Taitung on the 6th, but failed to exit as scheduled from Dongpu, Xinyi on the 12th. Their current status is unknown, and police and firefighters are making every effort to establish contact.
The Lushan Hot Spring area has long been designated as a geologically sensitive zone due to the surging Taroko Stream and landslides on Beipo Mu'an Mountain. Early on the 12th, Acting Ren'ai Township Chief Li Chongqing went to Lushan to assist police and firefighters in persuading business owners and residents to evacuate, though several households refused, either locking themselves indoors or hiding.
According to cumulative figures from the Ren'ai Township Office, nearly 260 people were evacuated yesterday from Jingying Village in the Lushan Hot Spring area; power outages occurred in Cuihua Village and Lixing Village along the Lixing Industrial Road, with some residents having already sought refuge in Puli; 33 people from the Hot Spring Tribe and Meicun Tribe have been accommodated at Hongxiang Presbyterian Church, another 23 hikers are staying at Hongye Elementary School, and the Ruiyan Activity Center has taken in 18 people; residents in hazardous zones of Nanfeng Village have been mandatorily relocated to the activity center for shelter, while the Presbyterian Church has also taken in 14 people.