One person was reported missing in Wutai Township (霧台), Pingtung County, yesterday after torrential rain pummeled the nation on Sunday.
Du Chun-lan (杜春蘭), Yen Wei-chuan (顏偉川) and Tang Yu-kui (唐玉桂) from Dawu Village (大武) in Wutai were traveling down the mountain when a makeshift bridge in Jiamu (佳暮) was washed away by floodwaters.
Police and fire department officials found Yen and Tang near Shenshan Waterfall (神山瀑布) yesterday morning.
PHOTO: CNA
The two told the police that Du was swept away by the rushing water.
Police and fire department officials then searched along the stream and found some of Du's clothes.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) reported that damage caused by the rain on Sunday had forced it to close 19 sections of road on provincial and county highways as rainfall in the upper reaches of rivers reached alarm levels or the roads were covered by landslides, flooding or mudflows.
Television footage showed residents living along these highways using cable cages to get around or deliver goods.
The DGH said it aimed to make the damaged road sections accessible by 6pm yesterday.
Heavy rain eased yesterday as the frontal system moved to the Bashi Channel. However, the Central Weather Bureau said that the same frontal system would gradually move from the south to the north again tomorrow, and heavy rain is expected in certain regions on Friday and Saturday.
From 12am to 7pm yesterday, Yuyoushan (御油山) in Kaohsiung had the highest accumulated rainfall of 327.5mm. It was followed by Alishan in Chiayi County and Sinan (溪南) in Kaohsiung County.
Cloudy to sunny skies are forecast for today in the northern and northeastern regions. The chance of showers is high in the southern, eastern and southeastern regions, as well as mountainous areas in central Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the rain has helped to relieve a water shortage in southern Taiwan as three reservoirs in the region collected more than 20 million tonnes of water on Sunday, the bureau said.
Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) — the nation's largest — received 16.79 million tonnes of rain water in its catchment area on Sunday to raise its effective storage volume to 62 million tonnes, according to the Water Resources Agency's southern region office.
It said that over the next few days, several more million tonnes of water would flow into the reservoir from its catchment area.
On the same day, the catchment area of Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) received 7.7cm of rainfall, or 1.12 million tonnes, to raise its effective storage volume to 59.46 million tonnes.
The catchment area of Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫) received 10.6cm, or 7.48 million tonnes, raising its effective storage volume to 19.72 million tonnes.
The Tainan area needs about 850,000 tonnes of water per day, with the Nanhua Reservoir providing 350,000 tonnes and the Tsengwen Reservoir providing the rest.
Mountainous areas in Pingtung received more than 20cm of rainfall.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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