Torrential rains yesterday collapsed roads and triggered landslides in central Taiwan but failed to relieve the drought in the north.
In Nantou County, roads connecting Shenmu Village (
"More than 30 families in our village need a temporary bridge for emergency use," village head Chen Ching-fu (
Chen said that residents' only choice was to wade across the Namagaban River (
Heavy rains collapsed several main routes in central and southern Taiwan, including part of the Southern Cross-Island Highway, which belongs to Kaohsiung County.
At 6pm yesterday, the Water Resources Bureau issued a warning to residents living along the Choshui River (
According to the Central Wea-ther Bureau, several counties in central Taiwan accumulated more than 100mm of rainfall, including Taichung, Nantou, Changhua and Yunlin. The average rainfall in northern Taiwan, however, was about 40mm.
In a bid to get more rainwater, water resources officials took advantage of the arrival of the wet air by chemically seeding clouds at 22 stations nationwide early yesterday morning.
The catchment area of the Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan yesterday received about 40mm of rainfall, more than the area's highest-recorded daily rainfall for this year -- recorded last month.
Chen Shen-hsien (
A dam's dead storage level is the water level where water has to be pumped out of the dam.
"The rain only reduced the necessity of imposing stricter water-rationing measures in northern Taiwan but failed to relieve the people's suffering from the drou-ght," Chen told the Taipei Times yesterday.
According to the agency's statistics, the water level in the Shihmen Dam yesterday amounted to only 2 percent of its "effective capacity," or the total capacity above its "dead storage" level.
Chen said that officials were looking forward to seeing more rain from the next two wet fronts that are expected to arrive in Taiwan over the next few days.
The Central Weather Bureau yesterday predicted that Taiwan's weather would be affected by the arrival of the next wet front in the middle of next week. The second front is expected to arrive between June 11 or June 13.
Chen said that water rationing in areas supplied by the Shihmen Dam would remain in effect until at least the end of June.
Meanwhile, the catchment areas of Feitsui Reservoir in Taipei County accumulated only 30mm of rainfall yesterday.
"The drought emergency might be lifted if more than 150mm of rainfall was collected by each of the two major reservoirs by the end of June," Chen said.
Water resources officials yesterday stressed the continued importance of water conservation in northern Taiwan.
"We are desperately seeking more water to supply northern Taiwan with. We are trying new strategies, such as transferring water from other counties to Taipei County and digging new wells," Chen said.
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