Five people were killed and 24 injured in Taipei County following a torrential downpour on Wednesday night that triggered severe mudslides.
Yangmingshan National Park was among the areas devastated by a massive landslide.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG
Two other victims died when the car they were driving was washed into a river in Tamsui. Three others in Tamsui were washed from their house by the force of the mudslide. The house was destroyed.
PHOTO: AFP
"In the Yangmingshan area ... according to our weather monitoring point in Chutzuhu (竹子湖), 295mm of rainfall was recorded Wednesday. An-bu (鞍部) had an amazing 400mm," said Lee Hsiang-yuan (李湘源), a weather forecaster at the Central Weather Bureau.
Northwestern Taiwan, including the border of Taipei City and Taipei County, Tamshui, Yangmingshan and Sanchi (
Tamshui was particularly badly hit, accounting for all of the reported deaths and the 24 injuries. A landslide destroyed a forest in Yangmingshan National Park, but no injuries were reported.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated from areas destroyed by the mudslides, which they said were the biggest ever in the area around their homes.
"It began as a mudslide, but the moving rocks and mud washed away the larger trees and broke them into pieces which stuck in front of the inlets of channels built by Taipei's Department of Reconstruction 18 years ago," said Chung Hung-yuan (
"Mudslides usually happen on slopes of 15 to 30 degrees," Chung said. "This one, however, happened in an area with a 35-degree slope, which is quite rare. Also, the devastated area is one in which there is no record of this kind of disaster."
A mudslide also devastated a rural area known as Balaka (巴拉卡) between Yangmingshan and Tamsui, reputed during Japanese rule to be the source of the purest water in Taipei.
The triangle of Fuhshing Third Road in Peitou, and the Hsingfuliao (
The distance between these places is about 700m to 800m.
The Taipei City Government, the Environmental Protection Administration, the Division of Construction Maintenance, the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters and firefighters from Taipei City and County are engaged in the search for missing persons and investigation into the reasons for the disaster.
"The Department of Reconstruction and the Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters will propose to Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a full reconstruction plan for the devastated area of the national park within three weeks. Once the mayor approves, we'll start the reconstruction straight away," Chung said.
According to Lee, the heavy rain is expected to continue until at least tomorrow.
"Before then, the weather will stay the same as it is now, but the front will move around," Chung said.
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