Extreme torrential rain brought by a southwesterly jet stream yesterday wreaked havoc in central and southern Taiwan, causing flash floods and triggering mudflows and landslides in mountainous areas.
By 5pm yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau’s observation station in Yuyoushan (御油山) in Kaohsiung’s Liouguei District (六龜) had registered accumulated rainfall of 726.5mm since 12am on Saturday, the highest among the bureau’s observation stations.
It was followed by the observation station in Kaohsiung’s Maolin District (茂林), which recorded accumulated rainfall of 671.5mm over the period.
Photo courtesy of the army via CNA
Six of the 10 observation stations that recorded the highest accumulated rainfall yesterday were in Liouguei, bureau data showed.
The Kaohsiung City Government had on Saturday night made an emergency announcement canceling work and classes yesterday in anticipation of torrential rain.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mei (陳其邁) yesterday visited Yongan District (永安) and two other locations hit by flash floods triggered by the rain.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
He said the city has secured a budget of NT$350 million (US$12.52 million) to improve a local drainage system, adding that flooding in Yongan would be addressed once construction is completed by the end of next year.
Flash floods were also reported in Tainan, as well as Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties.
Bureau forecaster Liu Yu-chi (劉宇其) said the rain brought by the southwesterly jet stream fell mostly in areas south of Taichung.
Photo courtesy of Tainan City Police Department’s Baihe Precinct
In addition to continuous rainfall, residents in these areas also experienced short bursts of intense rainfall, Liu said, adding that 90mm of rain fell within one hour in mountainous areas in Tainan and Pingtung County.
Although the rains in central and southern Taiwan would gradually ease, as the southwest jet stream turned south last night, chances of heavy or extremely heavy rain remain high this morning, Liu said.
Southwesterly winds would remain strong and continue to affect the nation this week, he said, adding that people should beware of disasters caused by heavy or extremely heavy rain.
Winds in the coastal areas could reach level 8 or 9 on the Beaufort scale, Liu added.
From today to Saturday, showers or thundershowers have been forecast for central and southern Taiwan due to the influence of southwesterly winds and a low-pressure system. Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall has been forecast in mountainous areas today and tomorrow.
From Sunday to Tuesday next week, the weather would be unstable due to the influence of a low-pressure system, with brief showers and thundershowers nationwide, the bureau said.
A southwest jet stream is a flow of warm and humid air from the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea brought by the southwest monsoon.
It arrives in the nation after typhoons move away from Taiwan. The warm and humid air rises after encountering the Central Mountain Range and dumps rain in central and southern Taiwan.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a