Taipei City's Yungji Road area was seriously flooded during yesterday's rain, but no major injuries were reported.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, the heaviest rain took place in Taipei City's Nangang District with an accumulation of 787mm, while 444mm fell in Yungho, 429mm in Neihu and another 360mm fell in the Muzha area.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"The rain became heavier and heavier around 3am. So we started to pump water at 3:29am," said Hsieh Chang-lang (
PHOTO: CNA
Around 9am yesterday, waters risen had high enough to inundate the ground floor level of buildings in the area. Residents relied on fire department lifeboats to travel within the community. Water levels began to fall by yesterday morning, however, as the heavy downpour gradually eased.
In the meantime, the Yucheng Pump Station was, again, blamed for the flood. Its pumps were blamed for flooding in the area during Typhoon Nari in 2001.
Residents said pump station workers had not remained alert to the heavy rain and had begun their work too late to prevent the flood. Workers at the pump station refuted the accusations.
"We did everything by procedure," Hsieh said. "We turned on all seven pumps and began to pump at 3:29am. Around 4:30am, the fifth pump went down due to an overheating problem. But the rest remained operating normally."
"The area was flooded simply because the rain was way too heavy and the water flooded all the water drains in the area, too," he said. "Each pump helps get rid of 200 tonnes of water per hour, but [they] still could not stop the flood."
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