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Taipei rain response vexes locals
WAIT, SEE, WAIT MORE: Students and workers were
unhappy with Hau Lung-bin’s decision to cancel work and classes at 10am, when
they had already begun their day
By Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporter
Elementary-school students in
Taipei yesterday wait to be taken home from school after the Taipei City
Government announced at 10am that classes were canceled because of heavy rain
and flooding.
Photo: CNA
The Taipei City Government yesterday came
under fire over its emergency response to torrential rain as Taipei Mayor Hau
Lung-bin (郝龍斌) did not announce work and class cancelations until 10am, angering
many parents who were forced to rush to schools to pick up their children.
Torrential rain that began hitting the country on Saturday night has caused
serious flooding in the city’s Wenshan (文山), Xinyi (信義), Nangang (南港) and Da-an
(大安) districts. The accumulated rainfall had reached 350mm by 8am, two hours
before the city government announced that work and classes were canceled for the
day.
“The overall accumulated rainfall in Taipei did not reach the standard for work
and class cancelation earlier in the morning. We announced the decision as soon
as the accumulated rainfall reached that standard in hopes of giving parents
enough time to pick up their kids from school,” Hau said while presiding over a
municipal emergency response meeting at Taipei City’s Emergency Operations
Center.
Hau said the city government had authorized all schools and local borough
offices at 6am to decide whether to cancel classes before making a formal
announcement.
However, Taipei City’s Department of Education Commissioner Ding Ya-wen (丁亞雯)
said the department informed schools at 7:25am to cancel classes. She did not
explain the time lag.
The city’s Department of Personnel Commissioner Han Yieng-chen (韓英俊) said local
governments adopt different standards for work and class cancelation over
typhoon or torrential rain. In Taipei, the established standard is 350mm of
rainfall within a 24-hour period.
The last-minute notice infuriated many students and parents who said they braved
the rain only to find when they arrived at school or work that they were free to
go home.
“Is this a city government prank on parents? I just dropped off my daughter at
her school two hours ago and now I need to go back and pick her up again,” a
Taipei resident surnamed Wu said.
Taipei resident Sandra Chen was also dissatisfied with the city’s late
announcement, saying it should respond faster in handling disasters and avoid
confusing the public with its poor decisionmaking process.
Wenshan District was the most affected area, with the road surface at the
intersection of Muzha Road and Wanfang Road damaged by flooding.
The flooding, according to the city’s Public Works Department, was caused by a
broken drainage channel at a local pumping station.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Wei-jen (陳威仁) said a technician surnamed Chang (張), who
was responsible for the damage, was immediately fired. Hydraulic Engineering
Office Director Eric Huang (黃治) was removed from his post for poor supervision.
Chen said the city would repair the drainage channel as soon as possible.
Taipei City’s 24-hour 1999 Citizen Hotline was jammed by residents who were
concerned about the rain or seeking information about work and class
cancelations. According to the city’s Department of Information and Tourism,
more than 1,000 calls were made to the hotline in the morning.
The Taipei City Fire Department said it handled more than 200 emergency cases
due to the rain, mostly for flooding and fallen trees on roads.
About 900 people were evacuated and moved to temporary shelters.
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