Taipei County's Hsichih City saw some of the most serious flooding yesterday, with several residents choosing to pack up and leave on inflatable boats, while others stayed to catch fish brought in by the overflow of water from nearby Keelung River.
With torrential rains persisting throughout Friday night and yesterday morning, the army was called on for assistance, with roughly 200 soldiers building a sandbag embankment along the Keelung River early yesterday morning.
PHOTO: LIBERTY TIMES
According to the Central Weather Bureau, over 263mm of rainfall accumulated in Hsichih between midnight and 6pm yesterday.
While flooding in the city's downtown areas began to abate yesterday afternoon, inundation in low-lying areas such as Hengke (橫科) and Changan (長安) townships persisted yesterday afternoon. Around Hengke Township, the one-story-tall buildings continued to be submerged in water where flooding was particularly heavy, with waist-high waters elsewhere.
Water levels around Hsichih's Jiangpei Bridge (
"The main reason for flooding around Hengke is because the government's Keelung River water treatment project has yet to be completed," said David Lee (
When completed at the end of this year, the flood prevention facilities are expected to allow water drainage to reach 20 cubic meters per second, according to Lee. Hsichih City currently drains water at a rate of 4 cubic meters per second.
"It is a threat to Hengke township when water collects more quickly than it can be drained," Lee said.
Acting Taipei County Commissioner Lin Hsi-yao (
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