Amid reports of damage from torrential rains in central and southern Taiwan May 23, President Ma Ying-jeou directed Premier Wu Den-yih, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah and Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu to make all necessary preparations for disaster prevention.
Wu instructed related agencies to closely monitor rainfall levels, and put Cabinet Secretary-General Lin Join-sane in charge of maintaining close communications between the central and local governments, to be prepared to take immediate action to prevent disaster, Cabinet spokesman Johnny Chi-chen Chiang said.
The Central Weather Bureau issued a torrential rain warning as the strongest front of this year’s “plum rain” season hit Taiwan.
Chiayi County’s Alishan topped the precipitation charts with 260.5 milliliters. Temporary roads constructed after Typhoon Morakot last August were blocked by rising floodwaters on County Highway No. 129 at Shanmei Bridge, County Highway No. 149-1 at Laiji, and on the Danayigu River road. Dabang Bridge No. 3 collapsed in a rockslide, but no casualties were reported.
In Pingtung County, a makeshift road along a river bottom from Dawu Village to the Wujia Bridge in Wutai Township was washed out. Three villagers who set out in the afternoon to drive to Wutai were still unaccounted for by evening.
Traffic restrictions were in place at kilometer mark 48 on Provincial Highway No. 24 due to a landslide. Flooding of the temporary Yila bridge trapped nine tourists, one village couple and Officer Ba Yi-cheng of the Wutai police station in the Ahli indigenous community, where they were safe and their needs provided for at Ahli Elementary School.
In Nantou County’s Xinyi Township, the temporary road along the Aiyuzi River near Shenmu Village was destroyed in a mudslide, and the Habilan Tunnel on the road to Dongpu Village was blocked by falling rock, cutting off traffic.
Several hundred wedding guests at Shenmu Elementary School were trapped there until evening.
Rising waters in the Shuwang irrigation canal, running from Taichung County’s Dali City to Wuri Township, flooded the motorcycle lane on the Dadu Bridge from Wuri to Changhua. The canal had not been dredged for some time, and drains on the bridge were plugged up. Firemen cleared the drains in time to prevent any calamities. (THN)
Write to Thomas Nash at thnash@mail.gio.gov.tw