Torrential rains that began Tues-day evening helped relieve a severe drought in northern Taiwan but triggered landslides in mountainous areas in central Taiwan.
Residents in northern Taiwan were ecstatic about showers falling overnight, including Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who expressed confidence the rains would mark a turning point for the city.
"I'm sure that Taipei City and part of Taipei County, which are supplied with water from the Feitsui Reservoir, will not have to be put under stricter water rationing measures at the end of June," Ma said.
The Taipei Water Department was scheduled to decide whether or not to impose stricter water rationing measures tomorrow. That meeting was abandoned after Tuesday's rainfall.
Hsu Pei-chung (許培中), the water department's deputy director, said that the department had channeled more than 4 million tonnes of water from Nanshih River (南勢溪), which is more than 10 times the amount of water received daily during the drought.
The water supply to downtown Taipei, which was still scheduled to be cut off yesterday, remained available yesterday due to abundant supplies of river water.
Water-resources officials said that rainfall accumulated in areas near Feitsui Reservoir was about 70mm, lifting the water level in the reservoir to the 121.1m level from the 119.7m level on Tuesday.
As of yesterday, the water in the reservoir accounts for about 9.79 percent of its effective capacity.
Meanwhile, the water surface at the Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County was lifted by 50mm of rain.
"Rains collected by the dam will postpone the date that the water surface will reach the dead-storage level to July 10, from the originally-anticipated June 20," said Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), deputy director of the Water Resources Agency.
As of yesterday, water stored in the Shihmin Dam was only 5 percent of its capacity.
Chen said that since June 1 accumulated rainfall at two major reservoirs in the north -- the Shihmen Dam and the Feitsui Reservoir -- had exceeded 100mm respectively.
Rains brought by the low-pressure area, which is expected to leave Taiwan on Saturday, might be crucial to whether the drought would be relieved, Chen said.
"We might discuss the possibility of lifting the 36-hour-water-cutoffs during the weekend at the end of June," Chen said.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, northern Tai-wan and mountainous areas in southern Taiwan were anticipating the passage of the low-pressure system during the next three days.
Yesterday's heavy rains trig-gered landslides and mudslides in Hoping Township (
Village head Chen Ah-chang (
When Typhoon Toraji hit Tai-wan last summer, residents suffered from similar disasters.
"Similar tragedies occurred in Sungho, where the government has promised too much for too long," Chen said.
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