The residents of an estimated 500,000 homes without electricity or water may have to suffer up to a week without hot showers and TV.
As of press time yesterday, the residents of 321,800 homes were still in the dark, government officials and executives from the Taiwan Power Co said yesterday. More than half a million homes were still coping without water.
The major problem plaguing the restoration of power in Keelung and Taipei is the large number of basements that remain flooded from the torrential rains brought by Typhoon Nari, Taipower said. As of 5pm yesterday 1,992 basements in the two areas remained submerged with pumping crews working around the clock to get them cleared.
Taipower's main local switching equipment is generally installed in basement levels and distributes power to surrounding buildings.
Until they are cleared, workmen cannot access the basements to fix the equipment, Taipower said.
Due to the slow going of the pumping work and subsequent delays on repairing individual switching equipment, reestablishing power to homes across the nation could take up to a week, a Taipower executive said.
Most of the 524,000 homes that remained without water yesterday were in Taoyuan County and Keelung, according to the Ministry of the Interior's disaster center.
"Severe flooding at purification plants forced shut downs, while mudslides have broken pipes across the country, cutting off water supplies," an official said.
Compounding the situation is the slow progress in reconnecting power to pumping stations and individual homes.
"Some of our purification plants are operable but are still without power," an official said.
Apartment buildings in Taiwan generally rely on electric pumps to move water to rooftop tanks, where it is then distributed to the floors below.
"In many cases we can get water to the building, but due to the lack of power there it can't be pumped into individual apartments," the official said.
Total reconnection of services could take up to a week, the official said.
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