By KHT Staff
KAOHSIUNG — Muddy floodwater swept along Gushan 3rd Road (鼓山三路) and entered some homes early Sunday, renewing questions over nearly NT$580 million that a city councilor said had been spent on flood-control projects in the area over 12 years.
Heavy rain overwhelmed drainage shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, turning the road into a stream of yellow-brown water for a second consecutive day, according to the United Daily News.
The affected section of Gushan District (鼓山區) lies below Shoushan (柴山) and beside a military compound. Kuomintang Kaohsiung mayoral candidate and legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), who inspected the area Sunday morning, said runoff from the hillside remained a concern despite the military’s reconstruction of a compound wall last year.
Ko said a pothole appeared on the flooded road and a scooter rider fell and was injured. She called on the military to improve soil and water conservation inside the compound to reduce the risk of muddy runoff reaching surrounding neighborhoods.
Local borough chief Yang Hui-yin (楊惠茵) said the city deployed two mobile pumps, but water carrying mud, sand and stones covered roads and sidewalks and temporarily clogged the pumping equipment.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Mei-ya (陳美雅) said projects completed or pursued in the wider area included detention facilities near Shoushan, improvements to Gushan Canal, work on the Gushan pumping station and additional pumps. She called for officials to identify why flooding continued despite cumulative spending she put at nearly NT$580 million.
In a separate United Daily News report published Saturday, the Kaohsiung City Government’s Water Resources Bureau said a recently completed NT$27 million pumping-station upgrade served a different drainage catchment from the flooded section near Gushan 3rd Road.
The bureau said intense rainfall had temporarily exceeded drainage capacity and that water receded after the rain eased. It also said the military planned six sediment-control dams and two sediment detention and flood-storage ponds inside the compound, with completion expected by the end of December 2026.
The Sunday report did not include a new city response to Chen’s broader NT$580 million spending figure.
