TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Torrential rain that has battered Kaohsiung in recent days has put flood mitigation at the center of campaigning for the November mayoral election.
DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) toured the city's flood mitigation facilities Tuesday with President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), per NOWNews. Lai Jui-lung called for continued support from the president while highlighting cooperation between Chen's administration and the central government.
Lai Jui-lung said he had secured cash subsidies for agricultural products affected by the torrential rain, as well as cash assistance and interest-free loans for the aquaculture industry, per Newtalk. He stressed that he would continue to address the needs of local communities through cooperation with the central government.
KMT candidate Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said Monday that she was also working to secure relief for the agriculture and aquaculture industries from the Ministry of Agriculture, per Liberty Times. While surveying flooded areas in Alian District, Ko's vehicle became stuck, forcing her to switch vehicles, per China Times.
Chen said he had requested additional central government funding for pumping stations and other facilities to help alleviate flooding in the district, per Z.Media. He also urged Ko to prioritize her safety while surveying affected areas.
Ko said visiting the flooded areas in person gave her a better understanding of victims' needs and the problems that must be addressed, per Liberty Times. She also invited former Interior minister and flood mitigation expert Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) to survey Dianbao Creek, which has repeatedly flooded.
Ko said bringing Lee to Kaohsiung was an effort to draw on his expertise to address the area's flooding problems.
Citing his work on flood mitigation in Xizhi, Lee called for a comprehensive approach to Dianbao Creek that considers the entire waterway as a single system, per UDN. He previously said that when he was involved in flood mitigation efforts under then-Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), overlapping jurisdictions between local and central governments meant he could address only about 50% of the problem, per China Times.
Lee said he could organize computer simulations to evaluate the effectiveness of government spending on flood mitigation. He also proposed bringing in a third party if the government believes he is not sufficiently neutral to conduct the assessment.
