Southern Taiwan experienced continuous heavy rain from August 20 to 23 due to a strong southwest wind and a low-pressure trough, resulting in 271 flooding incidents across the island [1, 2, 3]. Kaohsiung City accounted for 154 of these incidents, Tainan City had 77, and Pingtung County recorded 40 floods [1, 2].
The Central Weather Bureau warned from August 20 through at least August 25 about persistent heavy rainfall affecting southern and eastern regions including Kaohsiung, Tainan, Pingtung, Chiayi, Hualien, and Taitung [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Heavy rain in Pingtung peaked at 298 mm by the evening of August 22, while in High Wu Mountain area, Pingtung, rainfall reached as high as 560 mm [7, 8]. Between midnight August 23 and early August 24, Kaohsiung recorded 449 mm, Pingtung 341 mm, and Tainan 316.5 mm of rainfall [1].
Due to the severity of the flooding and rainfall, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Pingtung announced work and class suspensions on August 24 [1, 2, 7, 9]. Taiwan Railways suspended some trains on the South-Link and East-Line routes on the same day to ensure safety amid heavy rain [2].
In response to the ongoing weather conditions, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs raised the emergency response level to level 1 on the evening of August 23 [1, 2]. Premier Chuo Rong-tai said budget cuts in the legislature limited central government disaster inspection efforts: "Due to the Legislative Yuan's budget cuts, these days I can only communicate with local officials by phone; we will still overcome difficulties and visit disaster areas in person" [10]. The central government has allocated over 50 billion NTD for flood control in the coming year and plans to use reserve funds for disaster relief [10].
Typhoon Saudel (No. 18) was located about 1,600 km east of Taipei on the morning of August 24, moving northwest at roughly 30 km/h and strengthening. It is forecast to approach northern Taiwan near the coast around August 27-28 [1, 11, 2, 12, 4, 5, 9]. Meteorologist Wu Derong warned, "Heavy rainfall causing disasters should still be watched on Monday and Tuesday; Typhoon Saudel might enter northern Taiwan’s near-shore waters on August 27 or 28, and while the chance of landfall is lower, it cannot be ruled out" [2].
Heavy rains also impacted southeastern coastal provinces of China including Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Liaoning with yellow rainstorm warnings on August 24-25. Typhoon Jianlawi made landfall in Fujian as a tropical storm around noon on August 24 and is expected to weaken but continue contributing to heavy rains in eastern China [11, 12].
Taiwan authorities remain focused on managing the flooding threat as they prepare for Saudel’s potential effects in the north around August 27. Rail operations and local governments have announced suspensions and precautions for the coming days [1, 2, 9].
