TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A total of 501 people in three villages in Kaohsiung have been cut off from the outside world since part of a bridge was swept away by torrents amid heavy rain on Saturday (Aug. 7).
The southern municipality’s fire bureau on Monday (Aug. 9) said the three villages in mountainous Taoyuan District have been relying on helicopters from the National Airborne Service Corps to supply them with food and other supplies as well as carry residents needing medical treatment.
On Sunday, one helicopter brought four Taiwan Power Company workers to repair the area's power infrastructure and deliver 300 kilograms of daily necessities and medicine. Two helicopter flights on Monday morning carried a total of 956.6 kg of such supplies, according to the fire bureau.
The Directorate General of Highways (DGH) said that nearby Typhoon Lupit and the southwestern monsoon had collided to bring the torrential rain to southern Taiwan, with Taoyuan District receiving a total of 2,200 millimeters over the past eight days, exceeding the amount of rain Kaohsiung receives on average in an entire year. On Saturday alone, the area received a whopping 700 mm of rainfall, causing the engorged river to carry away part of Provincial Highway 20's (Southern Cross-Island Highway) Mingbakelu Bridge.
The highway authority said it will build a makeshift road over the riverbed to restore traffic in the short term, with construction estimated to take 16-20 days. Restoration of the bridge will not be completed until April next year, according to the DGH.
