Thunderstorm causes flash floods in Taipei, New Taipei

Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) A thunderstorm on Friday afternoon caused flash floods in the northern cities of Taipei and New Taipei, with the capital reporting at least two injuries.

The injuries in Taipei occurred in the square in front of Shin Kong Life Tower where a stage had been erected for an event.

The heavy downpour collapsed the stage, causing a 35-year-old man to suffer a head injury while a 70-year-old man was also hurt and reportedly felt light-headed.

Both men were conscious following the accident and taken to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment.

The rain also toppled a tree on Da'an District's Siwei Road, though no injuries were reported as of press time.

In addition, the thunderstorm brought flash floods to the city's Renai Road, parts of the Gongguan commercial area and the road in front of the vice president's residence.

Flash floods were also reported in New Taipei's Yonghe and Tucheng districts.

In a brief written statement to CNA, the city's Water Resources Department attributed the flooding to the inability of the city's storm drains to handle the amount of water the thunderstorm brought in such a short period of time.

The department added that after the rain abated, the light floods in Yonghe and Tucheng subsided within 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, the thunderstorms forced ground operations to be suspended at Taipei Songshan Airport from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., impacting a total of 12 flights, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.

According to EVA Airways, after grounding its BR772 flight from Songshan Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport scheduled for 2:45 p.m. it had to switch aircraft when ground crew found signs of a lightning strike on the original plane during safety checks after the thunderstorm.

EVA Airways provided a separate Boeing 787-10 aircraft for the journey which departed for Shanghai at 7 p.m.