Farm road in Kaohsiung's Daliao Yongfang Village turns into a lake; Ko Chih-en urges flood control to be judged on real results
Days of torrential rain have left Yongfang Village in Kaohsiung's Daliao District under water once again — bad news for local residents and road users, and a pointed question mark over the current city government's flood-control record.
- The farm road beside Yongfang Village's rice paddies and the surrounding streets were badly flooded; residents said that in the thirty or forty years they have lived there, it has always been a case of "flooding whenever it rains."
- Although cordons had been put up at the scene, scooter riders unable to make out the road surface still strayed into the flooded area, with two near-misses within ten minutes.
- Ko Chih-en, the Kuomintang's candidate for Kaohsiung mayor, visited the site to inspect the damage and called for the cordoned-off area to be widened and more warning signs installed.
- She said floodwater in the urban districts can at least recede gradually, whereas the area of the former Kaohsiung County often stays submerged for a long time, adding that flood control should not be measured only by how much money has been spent, but by whether residents' lives have genuinely improved.
- The village chief also admitted that the community has long faced flooding without being able to change anything.
Outlook: Ko Chih-en and city councillors will press the Irrigation Agency and the city government's Water Resources Bureau to carry out a comprehensive review of the farm roads, irrigation channels and surrounding water systems in Daliao and Linyuan, and to put forward concrete improvement plans.