Heavy rain in Kaohsiung prompts mudslide fears, evacuations

Kaohsiung, June 6 (CNA) A total of 306 people living in remote mountainous parts of
Kaohsiung have been evacuated Sunday amid fears of mudslides after much of
southern Taiwan was battered by downpours from a plum rain front.

As of 2 p.m., Taoyuan District had received a total of 350.5 millimeters of

accumulated rainfall over the previous 24 hours, reaching the Central Weather
Bureau's threshold for torrential rain.

It was also close to that level in the areas of Jiashian, Liouguei and Maolin.

Torrential rain is defined by the CWB as more than 350 mm of rainfall within 24
hours, while rainfall of more than 200 mm within 24 hours is defined as extremely
heavy rain.

Pounded by the heavy rainfall, some mountainous roads and highways in the
metropolitan area were damaged by falling rocks and falling trees, according to the
city government.

In the wake of sudden downpours on several mountainous areas, red-code landslide

warnings remained in place as of 1 p.m. Sunday for 30 rivers in Kaohsiung, which are
issued when measured rainfall exceeds an area's warning threshold for debris flows.
Meanwhile, 10 others were issued yellow warnings for landslides, indicating that
forecast rainfall will exceed an area's warning threshold.

According to central government regulations, local governments are obligated to

evacuate people residing close to red-coded rivers.

As a result, 81 residents in Taoyuan, 214 in Liouguei, one in Maolin and 10 in Tianliao

were evacuated, with most of them people with chronic diseases and pregnant
women, according to the city government.

In related news, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) issued flood warnings earlier
Sunday for some areas of Kaohsiung and Pingtung after they recorded Taiwan's
highest accumulated rainfall volumes since Saturday.
The flood warnings were later lifted, but discharge warnings for the Qingtan Weir, Jiji
Weir, Baihe Reservoir, Agongdian Reservoir and Yanshuipi Reservoir remained in
place as of 5 p.m. Sunday.

The warnings require people in downstream areas to stay away from corresponding
river banks for their own safety, according to the WRA.

Wang Yi-feng (王藝峰), deputy director-general and spokesman of the WRA, said the
plum rain front is still lingering in southern Taiwan and has brought large amounts of
rainfall to Kaohsiung and Pingtung and water catchment areas in that part of Taiwan.

He said the WRA will continue to keep a close watch on potential flooding in those
areas.

(By Wang Shu-feng and Evelyn Kao)