More than 350,000 people passed through Guangfu Railway Station in Hualien County within 12 days after Typhoon Ragasa triggered catastrophic flooding on Sept. 23, when water from a barrier lake along the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) burst and inundated Guangfu Township (光復), Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) data showed.
Volunteers from across the nation — hailed in news statements as “shovel superheroes” — traveled to Guangfu to assist in relief efforts. They helped residents clear mud, operate excavators and cranes, prepare and serve meals, deliver essential supplies and unclog drainage systems to restore access to homes and infrastructure.
With roads still blocked, the railway is the only way into the town in central Hualien County.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
Between Sept. 24 and Sunday, 357,348 passengers entered or exited Guangfu Station, exceeding the entire passenger volume for last year, the corporation said yesterday.
Following reports of the flooding, railway traffic surged — from 1,009 passengers on Sept. 24 to 2,253 on Sept. 25 and 5,715 on Sept. 26, the company said.
Passenger numbers also surged during the Teacher’s Day three-day weekend from Sept. 27 to Monday last week, reaching 35,000, 41,000 and 46,690 on those days, before falling back to 21,151 on Tuesday last week, it said.
The number swelled again to 35,012 on Wednesday, 38,655 on Thursday and 33,600 on Friday, TRC said, it added.
A single-day record was set on Oct. 4, the Saturday of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, when about 51,240 passengers passed through Guangfu Station, the data showed.
About 46,000 passengers were recorded the following day, it showed.
The Central Emergency Response Center’s coordination team in Hualien yesterday said that a military commander had been stationed on Fozu Street (佛祖街), which is the area that sustained the heaviest flood damage, with the aim of restoring functionality to the street within two days.
The commander is working with rescue teams, Hualien County officials and local village representatives to search for missing victims, coordinate heavy machinery support and assist with cleanup operations, the team said.
A total lunar eclipse coinciding with the Lantern Festival on March 3 would be Taiwan’s most notable celestial event this year, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said, urging skywatchers not to miss it. There would be four eclipses worldwide this year — two solar eclipses and two lunar eclipses — the museum’s Web site says. Taiwan would be able to observe one of the lunar eclipses in its entirety on March 3. The eclipse would be visible as the moon rises at 5:50pm, already partly shaded by the Earth’s shadow, the museum said. It would peak at about 7:30pm, when the moon would
DEFENSE: The US should cancel the US visas or green cards of relatives of KMT and TPP lawmakers who have been blocking the budget, Grant Newsham said A retired US Marine Corps officer has suggested canceling the US green cards and visas of relatives of opposition Taiwanese lawmakers who have been stalling the review of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.7 billion) special defense budget. The Executive Yuan has proposed the budget for major weapons purchases over eight years, from this year to 2033. However, opposition lawmakers have refused to review the proposal, demanding that President William Lai (賴清德) first appear before the Legislative Yuan to answer questions about the proposed budget. On Thursday last week, 37 bipartisan US lawmakers sent a letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the heads
A New York-based NGO has launched a global initiative to rename the nation’s overseas missions, most of which operate under the name "Taipei," to "Taiwan Representative Office (TRO)," according to a news release. Ming Chiang (江明信), CEO of Hello Taiwan, announced the campaign at a news conference in Berlin on Monday, coinciding with the World Forum held from Monday through Wednesday, the institution stated in the release. Speaking at the event, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said she believed this renaming campaign would enable the international community to see Taiwan
Two siblings in their 70s were injured yesterday when they opened a parcel and it exploded, police in Yilan said, adding the brother and sister were both in stable condition. The two siblings, surnamed Hung (洪), had received the parcel two days earlier but did not open it until yesterday, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday in Taiwan, police said. Chen Chin-cheng (陳金城), head of the Yilan County Government Police Bureau, said the package bore no postmark or names and was labeled only with the siblings’ address. Citing the findings of a
RSS