Rain is expected to continue until tomorrow, when the northeast monsoon is expected to bring cooler weather to Taiwan, particularly in the northern, northeastern and eastern regions, forecasters said yesterday.
Torrential rain is expected in eastern areas today and tomorrow, while the western areas are forecast to have cloudy weather with showers, Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecaster Hsieh Pei-yun (謝佩芸) said.
Northern and northeastern Taiwan should be wary of cold weather on Monday morning, with temperatures expected to dip to between 19°C and 21°C, Hsieh said.
Photo courtesy of the Directorate-General of Highways via CNA
Tropical Storm Kompasu has brought significant rainfall to the east coast, despite not making landfall, former CWB Weather Forecast Center director Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said in a column published on SET News’ Web site.
People in Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties are urged to follow CWB announcements closely today and tomorrow, as there is a high risk of torrential rain on already saturated land, Wu said.
Slips had already closed at least one road in the region, with part of Highway 30 in Taitung affected, police said yesterday, adding that repairs were expected to be completed and the road reopened yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The Chenggong (成功) Police Precinct said in a statement that the blocked section was at the 29.8km mark, about 5.6km from where the road intersects with Highway 11 on the east coast.
No accidents have been reported in the area, it said.
The section, which is also known as the Yuchang Highway, from the 19km mark in Hualien County’s Yuli Township (玉里) — where Highway 30 intersects with Highway 9 — to the coast was closed to through traffic until the damage was repaired, police said.
The periphery of the storm, which as of press time last night was close to China’s Hainan Island, has affected Taiwan over the past two days, dumping 700mm to 800mm of rain in Hualien and 400mm to 600mm in Taitung, CWB data showed.
Rain since Sunday evening has caused flooding in several areas in southern Hualien, including Yuli, Jhousi (卓溪) and Fuli (富里) townships, all of which are mostly mountainous, local officials said.
In particular, muddy water yesterday morning covered low-lying areas of Yuli’s Yuancheng Village (源城) and poured into a house, trapping seven people inside, the Hualien Fire Department said.
All seven were evacuated safely by a rescue team, it said.
The CWB yesterday issued an extremely heavy rain advisory for Hualien that was to end last night, while warning people in Taitung and mountainous areas of New Taipei City, as well as Yilan and Pingtung counties, of heavy rain.
Keelung and mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan are also forecast to receive heavy rain, the CWB said.
Schools and offices were closed in Hualien from midday, the county government had announced earlier in the day.
The Taitung County Government ordered schools and businesses closed from 1:30pm after the county’s Soil and Water Conservation Office raised the mudslide alert status to “red.”
Siangyangshan (向陽山) and Dawushan (大武山), as well as rivers and creeks, were closed to protect public safety.
Yilan County said that Aohua Elementary School in Nanao Township (南澳) closed at 1pm after floods cut off roads, and disrupted the supply of water and electricity.
Additional reporting by Cheng Wei-chih and Jonathan Chin
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