Heavy rain drenched the nation’s northeast coast on Thursday night, causing landslides, flooding train tracks and disrupting railway traffic.
Nearly 4,000 train commuters between Keelung and Cidu (七堵) were delayed yesterday as pouring rain flooded southbound and northbound railway tracks between Keelung Station and Cidu Station from 3:10am.
The Taiwan Railway Admini
PHOTO: CNA
stration (TRA) said no trains could be dispatched from Keelung Station for almost three hours.
The TRA managed to resume the operation of the northbound track by 5:52am after the water levels receded. Southbound traffic did not resume until 6:48am.
Because of the flood, the nation’s largest railway system was forced to cancel six trains and 20 trains were also delayed. In total, an estimated 3,910 passengers were affected by the flood yesterday.
Aside from disrupting railway traffic, the torrential rain flooded areas of Keelung and Yilan, as well as Taipei County’s Sijhih City (汐止), Jinshan (金山) and Wanli (萬里) townships.
Landslides partially blocked roads in Sijhih and Jinshan, including the highway linking Taipei City and Jinshan. Mudslides damaged Keelung City’s Wulun Junior High School and three residences in Jinshan. The school closed for the day at 10am.
The Ministry of National Defense said it had dispatched 170 soldiers to affected areas and that 19 water pumps from the Navy were in place, with 36 more on the way from southern Taiwan.
No casualties were reported, the ministry said.
The bureau said that the combined effect of the northeastern monsoon and warm, humid air in northern Taiwan resulted in the downpours over Taipei and Keelung.
As of 7pm yesterday, statistics from the Central Weather Bureau showed that Daping (大坪) in Wanli Township had the highest accumulated rainfall of 420mm.
It was followed by Keelung and Wujhihshan (五指山) in Sijhih City, with accumulated rainfall reaching 345.5mm and 340.5mm respectively. The rainfall in the three places met the bureau’s definition of “super torrential” rain.
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