Heavy rain is expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan this week due to the influence of a southwest wind, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
Although Typhoon Khanun has moved away from Taiwan after coming close to its north and northeast coasts on Thursday last week, it brought torrential rainfall on Friday and Saturday, and devastated Nantou County’s Renai Township (仁愛).
Mudflows were reported in multiple locations in the mountain town in Central Taiwan, disrupting road traffic and mobile phone services, while residents in several villages faced an imminent water and food shortage.
Photo courtesy of Nantou Fire Bureau
Two helicopters from the National Rescue Command Center were dispatched yesterday to deliver water, canned food and instant noodles to residents of seven villages in Renai, Nantou County Government said.
One helicopter also carried a resident who needed to undergo dialysis to the hospital, while another helicopter transported 43 visitors and staff members stranded in Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area to a temporary shelter at a junior-high school in Nantou.
The nation this week is still subject to the influence of a southwest wind, which would bring heavy rain to its central and southern regions, bureau forecaster Liao Ching-hsiang (廖經翔) said.
Photo: Liu Pin-chuan, Taipei Times
While the rainfall has become less intense, residents in central and southern Taiwan still face a potential danger due to the rainfall accumulated in the past three days, Liao said.
As of 5:30pm yesterday, Pingtung County’s Taiwu Township (泰武) had the highest accumulated rainfall of 1079.5mm, followed by 814.5mm in Nantou County’s Renai Township, the CWB said.
“So far, the rain brought by the southwest wind has not shown any sign of easing,” he said.
Tomorrow, the precipitation in central and southern Taiwan would further expand from the mountainous area to plains, while chances of isolated thundershowers are high all day in northern Taiwan, he said.
Two tropical depressions might soon be upgraded into tropical storms, and the one that would be named Lan was located southeast of Japan yesterday with a lower chance of affecting Taiwan, the bureau said.
The other tropical depression, which would be named Dora, could be upgraded into a tropical storm after crossing over to the west of the international date line, it said.
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