The Council of Agriculture (COA) issued red alerts yesterday for 244 locations in ten counties that may be at high risk of landslides over the next few days amid heavy rain brought by Typhoon Jangmi.
Red alerts were issued for 98 villages in 22 townships in Taichung, Taipei, Nantou, Taoyuan, Ilan, Yunlin, Hsinchu, Chiayi, Hualien and Pingtung counties owing to their vulnerability to landslides because of soil saturation from the typhoon’s heavy rains.
Of these areas, Pingdeng (平等), Ziyou (自由) and Daguan (達觀) villages in Taichung County’s Heping Township (和平), and Xinxian (信賢) and Fushan (福山) villages in Taipei County’s Wulai Township (烏來) were most at risk, the council’s Soil and Water Conservation Bureau said.
PHOTO: CHIU SHAO-WEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Bureau officials said that after a red alert is issued, the local government should warn residents and implement evacuation procedures if necessary.
The bureau also issued yellow alerts for areas in 306 villages and boroughs in 13 cities and counties that remained prone to mudslides.
The soil in these areas had already been saturated by two typhoons earlier this month.
PHOTO: TSAI TSUNG-HSUN, TAIPEI TIMES
Mudslides were reported at a community on Wanshou Road (萬壽路) in Taipei City yesterday.
Because the mudslides occurred directly under one of the Maokong Gondola’s stations, residents said the Taiwan Power Co and Taipei Rapid Transit Corp should be held responsible for the damage.
Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said civil engineers had evaluated the residential buildings in the community and found them to be generally safe.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hau said the city would stabilize the nearby embankment.
Since there was no safety concern, the gondola would continue operating as usual today, he said.
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