Nonstop rain since Sunday has forced hundreds of people in the northeast to abandon their homes and seek refuge.
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday it had recorded more than 800mm of rain in Dongshan Township (冬山), Yilan County, over a two-day period, but that the situation was slowly improving.
Dongshan’s Hansi Village (寒溪) recorded the highest volume of rain at 855mm, followed by Nanao Township (南澳) with 728mm, and Dongao (東澳) and Sansing (三星) townships with more than 500mm.
The CWB kept its torrential rain warning for the area yesterday.
The downpour is the result of the northeast monsoon converging with the outer bands of Tropical Storm Parma, the weather bureau said.
CLOSED SCHOOLS
The Yilan County government instructed schools and offices in Nanao Township to close at noon yesterday.
So far, no storm-related deaths have been reported.
The military yesterday dispatched armored trucks and rubber rafts to the affected zones to spearhead rescue efforts. Several hundred soldiers were standing by to mobilize.
The Water Resources Agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) sent nine large water pumps to the worst affected areas.
The Council of Agricultural Affairs issued red alerts for 19 rivers in Yilan and Hualien counties to warn of severe flooding and mudslides. More warnings were expected as more than 100 rivers in both counties could overflow in the coming days, the council said.
SUHUA HIGHWAY
The Suhua Highway, the main road connecting Hualien to Yilan and Taipei, was closed because of blockage from debris and collapsed sections. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said the road should be fixed by tomorrow.
The past two days are the second time a little over a week that Yilan County has been pelted by torrential rains.
Some Yilan residents, jittery after the disaster wrought by Typhoon Morakot in the South, seemed worried that the situation could quickly deteriorate.
At least 10 villages and townships in both counties — including Nanao, Wanshan Village (丸山), De-an Village (德安) and Sansing Township — were asked to evacuate, but many residents fled their homes even before being asked to leave, media reports said.
“The government has no excuse not to do a good job to help us this time. They should have learned lessons from Typhoon Morakot,” said a resident of Datong Township (大同), Yilan County, surnamed Lee.
In factory-lined Taihe Village (太和), also in Yilan County, where the water was knee-deep, several factory owners said important machinery had been ruined after sitting in water for hours.
Farmers said their rice paddies, vegetable fields and fruit orchards were waterlogged.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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