Heavy rain in the wake of Typhoon Khanun lashed mountainous areas of Taiwan yesterday, causing floods and landslides that blocked roads and stranded hundreds of people as authorities rushed to restore transportation links.
The Directorate-General of Highways said that rain in Nantou County led to multiple mudslides and landslides along Provincial Highway No. 14, the No. 14A branch from Wushe (霧社) to Dayuling (大禹嶺) in Renai Township (仁愛), and on township roads 71, 83, 85 and 89.
Renai had 939.5mm of rain in a 72-hour period, Central Weather Bureau (CWB) data showed.
Photo: Tung Chen-kuo, Taipei Times
Aside from Jhongjheng (中正), Hujhu (互助) and Nanfeng (南豐) villages, which were still accessible, other places on the affected roads are like islands, and risk running short on supplies, including fresh water, officials said.
Nantou County Commissioner Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華), during an inspection of the Nanfeng section of Provincial Highway No. 14 yesterday morning, said that the Nantou County Government has asked the Executive Yuan to work with the Ministry of National Defense to have military personnel ready to assist with disaster relief efforts.
The Reservist Command has about 300 personnel it could mobilize in the region and its commander was among those in the group making the inspection.
Photo courtesy of a reader
A gas station in Renai was buried by landslides and the Lilai Hot Spring Hotel (麗來溫泉飯店) in the township’s Lushan Hot Springs (盧山溫泉) area was in danger of collapse as part of its foundations had been washed away, officials said.
The county government said that experts would assess whether the resort is safe to operate and, if not, determine the best way to demolish the building.
A garage in the Lushan Hot Springs area, which has not been used for more than a decade due to landslide concerns, also lost part of its foundation in a landslide, officials said.
National Chi Nan University president Wu Tung-hsing (武東星) said that the institution has offered the use of air-conditioned graduate student dormitories for locals displaced by the typhoon, especially people from Nanfeng and Chungyang (春陽) villages and the Lushan area.
In Miaoli County, widespread flooding was reported in Sanyi (三義) and Yuanli (苑裡) townships, prompting the local fire bureau to dispatch personnel to rescue people trapped in homes or vehicles.
Up to 303 households in Jhunan Township (竹南) lost power. Electricity was restored later in the day, officials said.
Trees and utility poles fell in Hsinchu County, blocking County Road No. 122 near the 48.5km marker in Wufeng Township (五峰).
In mountainous districts of Kaohsiung, more than 900 residents were evacuated as a precautionary measure following torrential rainfall.
Kaohsiung’s Namasiya District (那瑪夏) had accumulated more than 210mm of rain in 24 hours as of 9:30am yesterday, data from weather stations showed.
With a combination of southwesterly wind and gusts from the extremities of Typhoon Khanun, monitoring stations in Kaohsiung, as well as Pingtung, Miaoli and Chiayi counties, had each recorded more than 200mm of rain in the 12 hours to noon yesterday, the CWB said.
Heavy rain was forecast to continue over the weekend, although at a reduced level, it said, adding that warnings remained for landslides in mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan.
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