TAIPEI: Storms dumped more than 2m of rain in parts of Taiwan over the past week, killing five people and triggering floods and landslides in central and southern areas, authorities said on Monday (Aug 4).
Torrential rain has lashed swathes of the island since Jul 28, forcing several thousand people to seek shelter, damaging roads, and shuttering offices.
Maolin, a mountainous district in southern Taiwan, recorded more than 2.8m of rain since Jul 28, said Central Weather Administration (CWA).
That’s more than Taiwan’s annual rainfall of 2.1m last year, according to the agency’s data.
It was the first time since 1998 that “Taiwan has seen seven consecutive days each with over 200mm of rainfall,” said Chen Yi-liang, director of CWA’s weather forecasting centre.
The unusually heavy downpours were caused by a low-pressure system and strong southwesterly winds, CWA forecaster Li Ming-siang told AFP.
“The southwesterly winds have brought heavy moisture from the South China Sea to Taiwan,” Li said.
Li said southwesterly winds were normally brought by typhoons affecting the island and seasonal rain in May and June.
This time it was caused by Typhoon Co-May pushing southwesterly winds further north as it swept past eastern Taiwan on its way to China, Li said, adding the rain was not linked to climate change.
The average rainfall across the island last month was the highest for the month of July since 1939, the CWA said.
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