Heavy downpours brought by a plum rain front and approaching Tropical Storm Choi-Wan caused flooding in many parts of Taipei yesterday afternoon.
At 2:45pm, Daan (大安), Wenshan (文山), Nangang (南港), Neihu (內湖) and Xinyi (信義) districts reported more than 100mm of rainfall, with city officials saying that they received 274 damage reports, including 260 incidents caused by flooding.
The heavy rain also caused knee-deep flooding in areas around Bojia Elementary School and Muzha Road in Wenshan District, as well as near Zhongxiao E Road in Xinyi District near Zhongxiao Fire Station.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei City Hall MRT station also reported that multiple exits were flooded, they said.
The Nanbu Bridge Underpass was flooded in half a meter of water, Lane 109 of Muzha Road Sec 2 had 200mm of rainfall, and Songren Road was awash in turbid runoff that reached the height of “about half a car tire,” they said.
The thundershowers, which began at about noon, came after the Central Weather Bureau issued a heavy or extremely heavy rain warning earlier in the day for 16 cities and counties across the nation.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Despite efforts to clear the city’s storm drains, their maximum discharge of 78mm per hour was easily outpaced by the rainfall, which reached 100mm to 200mm in five districts, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said.
The Water Resources Agency issued a first-grade flood warning for the districts of Xinyi, Neihu, Wenshan, Daan, Wanhua, Zhongzheng, Nangang and Songshan in Taipei, and Shenkeng (深坑), Sijhih (汐止) and Sindian (新店) in New Taipei City.
A first grade flooding warning refers to a scenario where one hour of rainfall causes serious flooding in an affected area, whereas a second grade warning suggests serious flooding within three hours, the agency said.
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