00:00Heavy rain and winds have pummeled this rural town in the eastern county of Hualien.
00:07It's just one of 14 cities and counties in Taiwan to be hit by moderate typhoon Poudou.
00:14Inside this temporary shelter, hundreds of local residents from three riverside towns have been
00:20waiting here since Tuesday due to the imminent threat of a dam that is close to breaching.
00:24Residents have lived near the dam for decades, and there have been a few evacuation warnings in the past.
00:31But after a major 7.2 magnitude earthquake last April and two back-to-back storms this July altered the landscape around the dam,
00:40people are more anxious than ever.
00:54Many of the residents who still live in these towns are elderly people who need substantial care,
01:12as the younger generation has moved out to seek work elsewhere.
01:15The military has helped to move them to this shelter.
01:19None had the time to pack their valuables before being evacuated,
01:23only some basic essentials to get them through the waiting period.
01:26I was scared, and everyone was worried about it.
01:30It's been the first time since we've been here.
01:33We only need to take our own things to buy our own.
01:37Of course, the own things to buy our own, and we don't have it.
01:41It wasn't easy to leave their homes of the past three to four decades.
01:46Some say they were reluctant to evacuate.
01:48Still, they try to stay positive.
01:50My friends say, if you don't have to be able to get a loan,
01:53if you happen to be able to get a loan,
01:55then the government will not be able to get a loan.
01:58Well, I'm here.
02:00I'm not afraid of being able to get a loan.
02:03Is that right?
02:04The shelter used to be a student dorm of a vocational high school.
02:08The principal worked with the township office to provide not only food and water,
02:13but also a space as comfortable as possible for the town locals.
02:17Now, there are about 140 people in three floors.
02:21The main study of the school is to provide the public life of people's lives.
02:27Because there are a lot of space in the area and in the area.
02:31The public life of the people in the area should be more suitable for the daily life of people's lives.
02:37The Central Weather Administration has predicted that the storm would leave the Hualien region on Wednesday evening.
02:43With more heavy rainfalls coming,
02:45authorities are still deciding whether it's safe enough for the locals to return home.
02:50It's the first and hopefully the only night that these people have had to seek shelter here.
02:55They're all waiting for the government to announce that they're safe to return home
02:59and hoping that when they do, the typhoon will have left their town unscathed.
03:03Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien for Taiwan Plus.
03:06Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:07Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:08Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:09Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:10Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:11Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:12Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:13Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:14Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:15Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:16Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
03:17Justin Wu, Scott Hwang, and Irene Lin in Hualien.
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