The China Post
Date: September 16, 2016
By: John Liu
TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen paid a visit to the most severely flooded areas of Pingtung on
Navy officers help residents with a rubber boat in Jiadung Township, Pingtung County, Thursday, Sept. 15. The village was severely flooded after Severe Typhoon Meranti brought torrential rains overnight. (CNA)
Thursday and pledged later that the government would strive to quickly restore normalcy to affected citizens.
Typhoon Meranti dumped about 800 millimeters of rainfall in a day, turning roads into small rivers.
As flooding reaching waist level in some areas, the military dispatched inflatable boats to deliver canned food, instant noodles and other supplies to stranded households.
In Pingtung, more than 600 people remain stranded in the three villages of Jiadon Township, where streets were flooded and power was offline.
Speaking with the president, a woman said her hometown flooded every year.
After meeting with the locals, Tsai asked that more plumbers be sent to the flooded regions and that Taiwan Power Company speed up repairs on the power grid.
While draining floodwaters is a relatively simple matter, restoring power poses a challenge, particularly because more than 300 utility poles had been uprooted by strong winds in Pingtung. [FULL STORY]
