Powerful downpours and strong winds lashed the nation yesterday, flooding urban centers in the north and threatening to cause landslides in central mountainous areas, even as the Central Weather Bureau issued a new typhoon warning.
The deluge, the heaviest since Typhoon Nari three years ago, claimed one life and left hundreds stranded at press time yesterday.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Houses in Nangang District in Taipei and adjacent Hsichih in Taipei County were swallowed up by muddy water. Sanchung in Taipei County was again hard hit by flooding. People waded across roads in chest-high water in front of their shops and low-rise apartments. Cars plowed through streets in a desperate effort to reach higher ground.
Nangang was drenched with 787mm of rain within 12 hours, with that figure expected to increase today, the Central Weather Bureau said.
Taoyuan and Keelung also saw more than 400mm of rain yesterday. The bureau had issued a torrential rain and strong wind warning on Friday, advising residents in mountainous and low-lying areas to evacuate to escape possible mudslides and flooding.
The National Disaster Prevention and Relief Center said that more than 200 people are sheltering in five shelter stations. In Hsinchu County's Wufeng Township, which is still reeling from a landslide tragedy during Typhoon Aere last month, 85 people from the indigenous Maopu community were evacuated to Wufeng Elementary School. Forty-seven villagers in Ta'ai village were also relocated to Wufeng's health bureau for their safety.
A total of 377,594 households suffered power losses yesterday. Electricity has been restored to almost all of them, the National Disaster Prevention and Relief Center said.
Trains between Taipei, Keelung and Toucheng in Ilan County were canceled yesterday. Airports in Pingtung City and Hengchun were also closed yesterday, as were airports at Chimei and Wangan in Penghu County.
To ease flooding in Taipei City, Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday morning ordered the Water Res-ources Agency to open the Yuanshanzai flood-diversion sluice ahead of schedule to ease the burden placed on the Keelung River. The level of the river had reached an alarming height downstream because of the incessant rain on Friday night. Since then, the level of the river has fallen slightly.
The weekend-long downpour may change into sporadic but strong showers in the north, though the unstable weather system could still dump rain on central and southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said.
With Typhoon Haima and a tropical depression hovering nearby, and Typhoon Songda's airstreams lingering, another wave of torrential rain could hit anywhere in the country early next week, said Wu Te-jung (吳德榮), vice director of the bureau's forecast center.
"From Monday, the rain across the island will slowly subside into regional showers. But the process will only be gradual, depending on how the high-pressure system in the Western Pacific develops in the next few days," Wu told the Taipei Times.
"But sudden showers could still trigger flash mudslides and flooding. The whole island will be on a heavy rain alert in the next few days. Everyone should brace for further activity," he said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS