A hovering front and southwesterly airstream yesterday dropped more than 600mm of rain over a few hours in the nation’s northern coastal regions, killing one person and injuring five as of 8pm, authorities said.
The New Taipei City Fire Department said the torrential downpour caused 12 roads in the city to be closed, as well as schools and businesses in Bali (八里), Jinshan (金山), Sanjhih (三芝), Shihmen (石門), Tamsui (淡水) and Wanli (萬里) districts, adding that 256 people were evacuated and 156 were displaced.
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and New Taipei City Department of Social Affairs Director Chang Chin-li (張錦麗) visited Mackay Memorial Hospital in Tamsui to offer their condolences to the family of the deceased.
Photo: Courtesy of a reader
Chu said he would authorize district and school administrators to decide when to reopen after assessing the situation.
The delay in closures triggered criticism from the public after the rain worsened, stranding many people.
Rainfall in Shihmen District measured 114mm per hour, nearly the national record of 128mm per hour in Alishan (阿里山), the city government said.
Photo: Courtesy of a reader
More than 185 areas nationwide reported flooding, while more than 10,000 households were left without electricity, officials said.
The Central Weather Bureau warned that the weather system would bring downpours nationwide, with torrential rain — accumulated rainfall of 350mm or more within 24 hours — or extremely torrential rain — 500mm or more over a 24-hour period — likely on the northern coast.
As of 4pm, accumulated rainfall in several districts of New Taipei City was classified as extremely torrential, reaching 643mm in Sanzhi, 630mm in Shihmen’s Fuguijiao (富貴角), 572.5mm in Jinshan’s Sanhe (三和) and 534mm in Jinshan, bureau data showed.
Photo courtesy of Keelung’s Zhongshan District Office
Elsewhere, accumulated rainfall totaled 428mm in Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源) and 356mm in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), it showed.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said that people in mountainous areas should be evacuated as a precaution to prevent them from being trapped when the weather system passes over southern Taiwan.
The Water Resources Agency said that, in addition to flooded areas in New Taipei City, Keelung’s Jhongshan (中山), Renai (仁愛) and Xinyi (信義) districts were on a level 1 flood alert — imminent flooding if rain continues — and the Jhongjheng (中正), Anle (安樂) and Nuannuan (暖暖) districts were on a level 2 flood alert — possible flooding within three hours if rain continues.
Photo copied by Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
The Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) said that several sections of Provincial Highway No. 2, a major coastal roadway in northern Taiwan, have been closed indefinitely due to flooding and mudslides caused by the rain.
The affected areas are sections 15K-52K between New Taipei City’s Sanjhih and Wanli; 67K-71K along Bisha Port (碧砂港) in Keelung; and 75K-84K between the coastal scenic areas of Ruibin (瑞濱) and Bitou (鼻頭) in New Taipei City, the DGH said.
The DGH urged motorists to avoid using those sections of the coastal highway over the next few days as workers clear debris and perform repairs.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Flights to and from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) resumed at 12:43pm after a two-and-a-half hour suspension due to heavy rainfall in Taipei, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said.
A total of 137 flights were canceled or delayed at Songshan airport, including three flights that were unable to land and were redirected to airports in Taichung and Kaohsiung, the CAA said.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport suspended ground operations at 10:45am, when it issued a thunderstorm warning, the CAA said, adding that the alert was not lifted until 12:40pm.
As of 1pm, 20 commercial passenger flights and one cargo flight had been canceled, while another 17 commercial flights and one cargo flight were delayed, airport data showed.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS