Half a metre of rain in three days

Taiwan's Central Weather Administration recorded 450 to 500 millimetres of rain over 39 hours, from all of Aug. 22 through the morning of Aug. 23, concentrated in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung. Strong southwesterly winds meeting a broad low-pressure system kept the rain band parked over the same ground.

The Water Resources Agency counted 199 flooding incidents by 9 a.m. on Aug. 23: 130 in Kaohsiung, 52 in Tainan and 17 in Pingtung County. In Kaohsiung's Zihguan district, water rose to waist height in homes overnight, parts of the light rail stopped running, and fallen street trees blocked roads.

Evacuations and closures

Kaohsiung moved 2,203 people out of mountain areas under landslide alerts; Pingtung relocated 115. Both announced Monday closures on the afternoon of Aug. 23, and Tainan followed. For all three, it was a second consecutive 'rain day'.

Hualien and Taitung counties and parts of Chiayi also suspended work and classes on Aug. 24, some only in mountain townships, others across the whole area. Because each county and city issues its own notice, residents had to check overnight updates from local governments.

Not over yet

Forecasters said late on Aug. 23 that a tropical depression had formed. Whether it strengthens into a typhoon is not settled, but warnings were issued for possible extremely heavy rain in the south and in Hualien's mountains from the night of Aug. 24 into the early hours of Aug. 25. The Kaohsiung weather station urged low-lying residents to watch high-tide times as well.

When heavy rain coincides with high tide, drainage stops. Rainwater has to run to the sea, but as seawater pushes in, floodgates must close. Zihguan and Meinong in Kaohsiung and Linbian in Pingtung fit that description. Local governments say mobile pumps have been positioned.

Damage assessment is still under way. Agricultural loss reports have begun coming in, and losses are expected to be heavy at southern aquaculture farms and in rice-growing areas. No deaths had been reported as of the night of Aug. 23.

A third perspective

Three things are confirmed: 450 to 500 millimetres of rain in 39 hours; 199 flooding reports and more than 2,300 residents evacuated; and three local governments closing workplaces and schools on Aug. 24. Unconfirmed are the track of the new tropical depression and the final scale of the damage. We do not mix the two. One note, though. August downpours in southern Taiwan happen every year, which is precisely why their life as news is short. But to someone sitting in a ground-floor shop with water in it, this is not an annual event; it is the whole of this year. Many readers of this page have family or businesses in the south. The more a disaster repeats, the denser the record of it should be.