DistantNews
Support us
🇹🇼 Taiwan /Disasters & Emergencies

Taipei's Neihu Floods: Official Blamed for Inadequate Drain Cleaning

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Heavy rainfall on June 25 caused severe flooding in Taipei's Neihu district, the worst since the 2001 Nari Typhoon.
  • Commentator Wen Lang-tung criticized the Chiang city government for inadequate drain cleaning, pointing to reduced maintenance length and frequency compared to the previous administration.
  • While the city's drainage system exceeded its design capacity, Wen argued that past flooding was not as severe, attributing the current situation to the current administration's alleged poor performance in clearing silt.

Taipei's Neihu district experienced its most severe flooding since the 2001 Nari Typhoon on June 25, following heavy rainfall from the outer bands of Typhoon Maria. The deluge left streets in Neihu Road Section 3 submerged in muddy water as residents began the arduous task of cleaning up.

The city's storm drain design standard is 78.8 millimeters per hour. The peak on June 25 was about 100 millimeters, which indeed exceeded the standard.

— Wen Lang-tungWen Lang-tung acknowledged the rainfall exceeded the city's design capacity but questioned why past floods were not as severe.

Commentator Wen Lang-tung has sharply criticized the current Chiang city government, alleging "ineffective silt removal" is to blame for the extensive flooding. He noted that while the rainfall intensity of approximately 100 millimeters per hour did exceed Taipei's storm drain design standard of 78.8 millimeters per hour, the area had not experienced such severe flooding in the past. Wen directed his criticism towards the city government's maintenance practices.

Citing data presented by city councilor Ho Meng-hua in May, Wen pointed to a significant decrease in the average length of side drain cleaning in Taipei under the Chiang administration. Compared to the previous Ko administration's average of 7.61 million meters annually, the current government's average dropped to 4.53 million meters, a 44% reduction. The frequency of cleaning also decreased, and the amount of silt removed was lower.

Taipei City's average side drain cleaning length decreased from 7.61 million meters annually under the Ko administration to 4.53 million meters under the Chiang administration, a reduction of 44%.

— Wen Lang-tungWen Lang-tung cited statistics to support his claim of reduced drain cleaning efforts.

Environmental Protection Bureau official Chen Hao-chang countered by highlighting the number of "patrol cleaning" instances, which slightly increased under the current administration. However, Wen dismissed this, calling it a "conceptual shift" by the bureau. He argued that citizens care about the actual length of drains cleaned and the volume of silt removed, not just the number of times officials visited. Wen likened the bureau's metric to a child claiming to have studied math by flipping through 500 pages, rather than actually solving problems.

The bureau measures 'how many times we patrolled,' not 'how much silt was cleaned.'

— Wen Lang-tungWen Lang-tung criticized the Environmental Protection Bureau's metrics for assessing drain cleaning effectiveness.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog