Climate and Natural Disasters

Tropical Storm Fengshen Prompts Evacuations in East Taiwan Township

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By John Su/John Van Trieste

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The edges of Tropical Storm Fengshen have swept past eastern Taiwan. It's a month after a similar storm overwhelmed a containment dam in the region, releasing a deadly flood. This time, officials aren't taking chances, with evacuations in one township.

Heavy Rains Return to Eastern Taiwan as Storm Approaches

 

REPORTER:  

Heavy rains are back in eastern Taiwan, as the edges of Tropical Storm Fengshen combine with a seasonal monsoon. The alert level here is high. It’s almost one month since the edges of a typhoon tore through, overloading a nearby dam and unleashing a deadly flood. At least 19 people died and five people are still missing.

 

REPORTER:  

Fearing a repeat, officials have evacuated 900 people from near another dam on the east coast—even though they say there’s no imminent danger of it overflowing. Residents have been given time to get their belongings—and then get out.

 

REPORTER:  

Basically, we plan to evacuate them for five days. We’re being proactive about care for their psychological needs and hope everyone can get through this dangerous time together.

 

REPORTER:  

But not everyone wants to go to the evacuation center. Over 30 people have chosen to set up tents in a nearby basketball court to wait out the storm.

 

REPORTER:  

The evacuation center is inconvenient. If the kids cry or something and it disturbs other people I’d feel embarrassed.

 

REPORTER:  

They’ll have a wet wait, with rain forecast for the area through the end of the week.

 

REPORTER:  

The storm is also causing headaches further south in Guangfu Township, where the impact of last month’s fatal dam disaster is still easy to see. The mud and rubble have been piled up, but not yet totally cleared. At one spot, 300,000 tons of muck are still just sitting there. Officials have acted to make sure the rain doesn’t start washing it all away.

 

REPORTER:  

There’s a lot of mud piled up at the third temporary storage site. With the edges of the typhoon there could be some rainfall so we’ve taken some preparatory measures mainly covering [the mud] with waterproof tarp.

 

REPORTER:  

So far, officials monitoring the rainfall and infrastructure meant to stop flooding say everything is going well. But after the shock of last month’s disaster, it’s safety first on Taiwan’s storm-hit east coast.

 

John Su and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.