Taipei City's Neihu district was also hard-hit by a night of continuous heavy rain yesterday, with section three of Kangning Road most affected. Some areas, including the Nanhu Elementary School and the Nanhu Junior High School, were flooded with waters reaching as high as 1m.
Taipei City Councilor Chen Yi-chou (
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
In response to Chen's accusation, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
If negligence on the part of the MRT construction is discovered, the city government will discipline relevant personnel, Ma said, while making a trip to Neihu yesterday to inspect the damage.
Listening to complaints from the area's residents, Ma said the sudden, heavy downpour was the main cause of the city's flooding.
Noting that the Central Weather Bureau had not announced which areas would be hit hardest by the torrential rain, Ma said that it was impossible for the city government to place pumps everywhere. In view of the flooding, Ma said the most the city government could do was instruct relevant agencies to put additional pumps in place "and do the best they can."
Despite Ma's remarks, some residents complained that the Taipei City Government had been too slow to respond to the flooding.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
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A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all