The combination of an afternoon thunderstorm and a ruptured water pipe yesterday caused serious flooding at Terminal 2 of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for the second time in less than a month.
Taoyuan International Airport Corp, which runs the airport, said the pipe in the airport’s A13 MRT station in the basement of the terminal burst, leading to a cascade of water from the ceiling to the floor below.
Airport staff used sandbags to stem the flow of water and got to work to clear the water.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
However, unlike the earlier incident, the food court on the same floor was not affected, nor was the power and air-conditioning system.
After a thunderstorm warning was issued at 3:54pm, ground operations at the airport were temporarily suspended, delaying several flights, the company said.
Flooding was also reported in some areas of Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan after the storm.
The Central Weather Bureau said that its Pateh station in Taoyuan had recorded a maximum precipitation of 117 millimeters between 3:10 pm and 4:10pm.
The Taiwan Railways Administration also reported some disruptions cause by flooding, saying that water on the Taoyuan-Yingge (鶯歌) West Line rose above the rails, while trains running on the Sanjia (山佳)-Yingge East Line had to slow down to 5kph due to flooding.
As for the June 2 flooding incident at the airport, a Public Construction Commission investigation later determined that it had been caused by a blockage in one of the airport’s drain pipelines, which had prevented the rapid discharge of floodwater into the Pusin River (埔心溪).
The commission also found that a failure to promptly close a floodgate at an underpass leading to the basement of Terminal Two led to the building’s basement flooding.
The Taoyuan International Airport Corp said financial losses caused by the June 2 flooding was more than NT$50 million (US$1.54 million), including damage to facilities and compensation fort the delayed delivery of their luggage.
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