Taiwan fears deadly mudslides as more rain approaches

Storms threatened to dump more heavy rain and trigger deadly mudslides today in areas battered by Typhoon Toraji, which killed 84 people and left about 130 missing, Taiwanese forecasters said.

Downpours were predicted for this evening and tomorrow morning in central and eastern Taiwan, still struggling to salvage the wreckage caused by Monday’s typhoon.

‘‘I want to warn the people in these areas to be prepared,’’ Wu Teh-rong, assistant director of the Central Weather Bureau, said.

Wu also said that forecasters were closely monitoring a tropical depression in the Pacific Ocean off Taiwan’s eastern coast that could develop into a tropical storm and bring more heavy rain.

Meanwhile, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung held a news conference to discuss ways to prevent the landslides and flash floods that wiped out villages, bridges and roads during the typhoon.

Chang said that there has been too much farming and development in unstable, mountainous areas that are prone to flooding and mudslides. He repeated the Government’s desire for a massive relocation of residents out of the areas.

The premier, Taiwan’s third-ranked leader, also criticised the common practice of ploughing up native plants on mountainsides and replacing them with betel nut trees. The fruit - called ‘‘Taiwanese chewing gum’’ - is chewed as a mild stimulant

The trees are blamed for causing some of the mudslides because their short roots don’t firmly grip the soil and their limited foliage does not effectively catch rain.

Chang said that the mountainside groves of betel nut - Taiwan’s second-biggest cash crop after rice - must be chopped down.

‘‘We should let nature return to nature,’’ he said.