Taiwan Water waives Hualien's Guangfu bills after Typhoon Ragasa

颱風「樺加沙」過後，台灣自來水公司免花蓮光復水費

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Water Corp. is offering a waiver on water bills for residents of Guangfu Township in Hualien for September and October to help support them in cleaning up their homes in the wake of Typhoon Ragasa, CNA reported.

Due to heavy rain from the typhoon, the county’s Mataian barrier lake overflowed on Sept. 23, triggering severe floods and mudslides in Guangfu. The flooding also damaged water pipes and a local water plant, causing a widespread water outage across the township. As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, authorities reported 18 deaths, 121 injuries, and six people missing.

To address the issue, Taiwan Water has activated emergency response measures and set up a command center in the township, working with the military to expedite repair efforts.

The local water plant partially resumed operations on Wednesday after completing repairs to some electromechanical equipment, cleaning water storage tanks, and reactivating the booster station. The plant is supplying up to 6,000 cubic meters of water per day.

However, as residents and large numbers of volunteers work to clean up homes, water demand has risen sharply, the company said. With some damaged pipes still undergoing repairs, certain areas continue to face insufficient supply and low water pressure.

The company has added more temporary water supply stations and water trucks in the township. It said it is also working to use water from wells at Taiwan Sugar’s local facility, as well as from nearby township water plants. With these efforts, the daily water supply is expected to exceed 8,500 cubic meters.

As of Monday, Taiwan Water reported 60 remaining leakage cases in the township, with around 900 cubic meters of water lost per day. The company added that it will continue to allocate personnel and accelerate repair work to restore the water supply.

CPC Corp. temporarily closed two gas stations in the township due to severe flooding and mudslides. After deploying significant manpower and equipment for repairs and conducting fuel quality inspections, one of the stations resumed operations on Saturday evening.