It could take two more days before Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is back to normal operations after a heavy downpour and flash floods left the airport in a state of chaos on Thursday, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC, 桃園國際機場公司) said yesterday.
More than 16cm of rain fell in a three-hour period in Taoyuan on Thursday morning, resulting in severe flooding, a power outage and computer glitches at the airport.
Water inundated the airport’s basement food courts and parking lots and an underpass connecting the airport to Freeway No. 2, and more than 200 flights and 30,000 passengers were affected.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The nearby Pusin River (埔心溪) also overflowed, which contributed to the flooding, TIAC chief executive officer David Fei (費鴻鈞) said.
As of 6pm on Thursday, airport personnel had removed obstacles blocking drainage pipes on Airport S Road and Airport N Road, TIAC said, adding that as of 3pm yesterday, 80 percent of the power supply to Terminal Two had been restored.
All customs procedures had returned to normal after being disrupted because of the power shortage, TIAC said, adding that some air conditioning units and conveyor belts were still without power.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
People who were stranded at the airport were offered assistance in finding alternative transportation, TIAC said.
Passengers from six flights that were canceled on Thursday had all been moved onto other flights by 3:20pm yesterday, TIAC said.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday visited the airport to inspect the flooding and instructed TIAC to return the airport to normal operations as soon as possible.
The airport said that it had drained the water from Terminal Two’s basement food court on Thursday and the restaurants had reopened yesterday.
The airport is also looking into measures to prevent a similar event from happening again, TIAC said.
In related news, Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) yesterday confirmed at the Legislative Yuan that TIAC chairman Samuel Lin (林良鵬) has tendered his resignation over the incident.
“I have not seen the original resignation letter yet, but I have received a copy of it,” Hochen said in a legislative meeting when answering questions from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉).
Asked if he would approve the resignation, Hochen said yes, adding that he is searching for the right person to take over the position.
“We will take over [Samuel Lin’s] responsibilities and find the most suitable candidate to take over the position,” Hochen said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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