Worries over a possible drought eased with the belated arrival of the “plum rains” (梅雨) yesterday morning.
The rains were brought by stationary fronts that generally arrive between May and June, which coincide with the plum season.
The heavy rains, however, led to flooding in Hsinchu City.
Cars and motorcycles parked in the basement of a building near Hsinchu City's Chenggong Junior High School were immersed in water because construction of an underground sewer system had blocked the water outlet.
Rainfall in Hsinchu's Chubei (竹北), Sinfong (新豐) and Hukou (湖口) already exceeded more than 100mm by early yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, an excavator operator in Dongshih (東勢), Taichung County, was trapped on a sand bar as the torrential rain also raised the water level at Daan Creek (大安溪).
The man was rescued by a helicopter dispatched by the National Airborne Service Corp.
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) had forecast heavy rains on Wednesday, but the downpour did not start until yesterday, prompting the bureau to issue a torrential rain alert.
The bureau warned that chances of torrential rain remained high today in the north, central, northeastern and southern regions.
In related news, Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said yesterday that water shortage should not be a problem even though the “plum rain” season appeared to have started much later this year.
As the CWB forecast that the rainfall this month would be close to normal, water storage in the country's major reservoirs should be sufficient for supplying water for all purposes, Su quoted director-general of the Water Resources Agency Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) as saying yesterday.
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