Typhoon Marakot

A week ago, Taiwan was in a drought condition, with several areas facing critical water rationing in the near future. Typhoon Marakot, 1,600km (@1,000miles) in diameter changed that. By landfall (Friday midnight), the drought was over and most of the water reservoirs were full. Although it is now in China, and no longer a typhoon, it is still dropping huge amounts of rain in central and southern Taiwan, due to its enormous size. In the south there was a 1-day record rainfall of 1.4 m (@56in). At this point (Mon AM), we have experienced about 3 m (@119in) of rainfall in some central-southern counties, and the rain keeps coming. The least amt of rainfall, in the north is almost 1.5m (@60in). 58 bridges are closed due to damage, partial collapse, one bridge in the south collapsed in the middle of the bridge. Rail transportation and high speed rail is still blocked south of Taichung (central TW); 519 potential landslide locations; 91 roads damaged/cut-off; 10,000 people cut off from assistance; over 10,000 evacuated, but many cannot be evacuated; an entire hotel collapsed into a river on the SE coast; military assistance has continued 24hrs/day, non-stop for almost 3 days; utilities in the south may take up to 7 days to be working. Amazingly, only 31 people are missing and only 3 confirmed deaths. All this occurred on 8/8 (Father’s Day in TW). It is now being called the 8-8 evil rain day. Undoubtedly, this will be attributed to angry gods, not just bad weather. Temple parades are likely to begin springing up throughout the especially the hardest hit areas. There is a lot of work to do here….. Please pray for churches and the Taiwan Christian Relief org which will be trying to give assistance to those in need. Pray for the families of the missing or dead; for those who have lost everything; for those still needing to be evacuated. Pray that through this extraordinary weekend, people will come to know Jesus in the midst of destruction. Pray that God’s mercies and love will overcome the fears and anguish; that His Truth will become known in areas that have not heard of Jesus.