Heavy downpours battered Tainan early yesterday, with many parts of the city flooding, including Yongkang District (永康), the Southern Region Weather Center said.
The downpour occurred from 5am to 6am, with Yongkang recording the highest hourly accumulated rainfall at 103.5mm, followed by 90.5mm on a section of Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) in Sinshi District (新市) and 83mm in Anding District (安定), the center said.
Thirteen of Tainan’s 37 administrative districts had hourly rainfall in excess of 40mm — meeting the threshold for “heavy” rain, it said.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
Due to the intense rainfall and overwhelmed drainage systems, flooding affected several areas in the city, it said.
The Siaodong (小東), Siwei (四維) and Dongning (東寧) underpasses were closed to motorists due to flooding, it said.
Fifty-four pumping stations were activated, it said, adding that as of 6am, they had pumped an estimated 3.27 million tonnes of water.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
Anding District had recorded 192.5mm of accumulated rainfall as of 6am, the most among the city’s districts, followed by Sigang District (西港) at 179.5mm and Cigu District (七股) at 169.5mm, Tainan Water Resources Bureau data showed.
Other areas in Taiwan also had extremely heavy rain yesterday, including Yunlin and Chiayi counties, as well as mountainous regions in Nantou and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
Schools and government offices in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Chiayi County, and parts of Pingtung County will be closed today, due to heavy rainfall, local governments announced last night.
Photo courtesy of a CNA reader
The CWA attributed the heavy rainfall to strong southwesterly seasonal winds, which are expected to continue through today, causing short but intense downpours across the nation.
Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that heavy rainfall would likely persist throughout tomorrow.
The CWA categorizes rainfall as torrential if it exceeds 350mm in 24 hours or 200mm in three hours.
Extremely heavy rain is defined as more than 200mm in a day or 100mm in three hours, while heavy rain refers to more than 80mm in a day or 40mm in an hour.
Elsewhere, Taitung Weather Station Director Jan Li-chun (冉立群) said that a weather station in Taitung County’s Dawu Township (大武) reported 1,851.5mm of rainfall last month, the highest for the month since the station was established in 1939.
That was the highest monthly rainfall recorded nationwide last month, with typhoons and seasonal southwesterly winds the greatest influence, Jan said.
CWA data showed that rain fell on 20 days in Dawu last month, including six consecutive days from July 17 to 22.
Other weather stations across Taitung also recorded high rainfall last month, including the Taitung Weather Station in Taitung City with 879.5mm and the Chenggong (成功) Weather Station with 979mm, the data showed.
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