The Greater Kaohsiung Government yesterday announced its timetable for reconstruction after its deadly gas pipeline explosions, saying it plans to finish repairing the 6km of damaged roads by mid-November and finish rebuilding the damaged areas completely by the middle of December.
Work is already underway on the damaged roads and underground culverts, said Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀), whose resignation on Friday last week has been approved by Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and is to take effect after reconstruction and relief work is finished.
The explosions, which killed 30 people and injured 310, are believed to have been caused by a leak of propene from an underground pipe owned by LCY Chemical Corp that runs under the city’s streets.
Photo: CNA
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted seven employees of the LCY Chemical Corp and China General Terminal and Distribution Corp on charges of negligence and endangering public safety.
Meanwhile, torrential rain yesterday forced the city government to shut down schools and offices as floods overwhelmed its sewage system, which was severely damaged by the explosions.
Residents rushed to pile up sandbags in the two districts where drainage systems were affected by the blasts, but many were marooned by the rising waters.
The city government said that it has deployed dozens of water pumps in the two districts to help drain the water.
“The flooding over the past few days was caused by the serious damage to the sewage systems caused by the gas explosions,” Chen said.
Statistics from the Central Weather Bureau showed the southwest airstream brought substantial rainfall to southwest Taiwan.
Between Saturday and yesterday, the highest accumulated rainfall was recorded in Fongshan District (鳳山) in Greater Kaohsiung, where it reached 461mm. It was followed by 457mm in Tzeguan (梓官) and 446mm in Dashe (大社), both of which are in the city.
Of the 10 places that saw the highest accumulated rainfall, eight were in Greater Kaohsiung and the other two were in Pintung County.
The bureau’s weather forecast said the southwest airstream would slightly weaken on Thursday.
However, from today until tomorrow, the bureau said the weather would become quite unstable as the airstream would continue to bring humidity from the south across the nation, with chances of showers and thundershowers high in central and southern Taiwan.
Some regions could see “extremely heavy” rainfall, it said, meaning that accumulated rainfall could reach 130mm within 24 hours.
Former bureau weather forecast center director Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said the rainfall caused by the southwest airstream was not particularly high compared with records in the past, adding that flooding in Greater Kaohsiung was caused by a drainage pipeline that was damaged by the recent explosions.
Additional reporting by AFP
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