Tropical storm Kalmaegi brought flooding to large areas of southern Taiwan

Tropical storm Kalmaegi hit the island on Thursday night with heavy rain and packing winds of up to 83kmh, weather officials said.

By early Friday it had begun to head across the Taiwan Strait toward southern mainland China.

In hard-hit Kaohsiung county in southern Taiwan, TV footage showed torrents of floodwater pouring down a mountain road.

Local disaster relief officials said one woman had been rescued from a house buried in a landslide, but her 1-year-old daughter died.

Another family member was buried and listed as missing.

Elsewhere in Kaohsiung and nearby Tainan, three people were drowned and two others were washed away by floodwaters.

The treacherous conditions even took emergency workers by surprise with one man and woman reported missing after a police motorboat that had earlier rescued them overturned in floodwaters.

In the coastal county of Yunlin firefighters have been using ladders to rescue people trapped in flooded houses.

Officials said several areas in the south of Taiwan have recorded up to 1,100mm of rains in the space of just 24 hours.

Earlier this week Kalmegi swept through the northern Philippines leaving two people dead according to local officials.

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