5 Taipower workers, 5 others rescued from flooded vehicles in Chiayi

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) Firefighters of the Chiayi County Fire Bureau on Monday rescued five Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) workers and five members of the public trapped on flooded vehicles in the southern county's Puzi City.

The fire bureau said that they dispatched firefighters to the scene upon receiving a report of a Taipower truck trapped in heavy floodwaters around noon.

The five workers, who had huddled on the truck bed, were saved with a lifeboat along with five others who were trapped in three cars nearby.

No injuries were reported among those rescued.

The Taipower workers had been carrying out repairs in the area that morning before the rain intensified and caused flooding, with water rising to chest level, the fire bureau said.

According to the county's education department, most of the junior high schools and elementary schools in Puzi and Taibao City face flooding, with the Puzi Junior High School campus severely flooded.

Elsewhere in the county, several low-lying villages in Xingang Township were flooded up to thigh level, with mature pigs at one farm barely keeping their heads above water.

According to the Central Weather Administration, Taibao, Puzi, Xingang, Lucao Township, Shuishang Township, Liujiao Township and Yizhu Township in Chiayi County have each recorded over 350 millimeters of rainfall within 24 hours, meeting the threshold for torrential rain.

Taibao alone saw accumulated rainfall reach 442.5 mm, according to agency data.