Residents strive to restore disaster stricken Wulai streets

In the wake of typhoon Soudelor, the tourist district of Wulai’s ‘Old Street’ in Taipei has been left in ruins. On August 19, eleven days after the storm struck, residents in the area were still in the process of cleaning up their homes. In the previous few days, countless young people and Tzu Chi volunteers have arrived to aid the cleanup work, which has provided valuable assistance to cleanup workers in restoring the roads to normal.

As a result of a southwesterly wind, a weakening high-pressure in the Pacific Ocean, and convection-driven weather effects, there has been torrential rain in the afternoons, causing continuous rock falls. This has given engineers no alternative but to brave the rain in order to restore the main thoroughfare in Wulai, which currently still has traffic controls in place. 

With its basement still full of mud, Wulai Hot Spring Hotel (烏來溫泉大飯店) suffered the greatest damage of any business in Old Street – the fact that the area is still without running water is making things even more difficult. The road foundations leading to Yunhsien Dreamland (雲仙樂園) and Wulai Waterfall (烏來瀑布) have been almost completely destroyed, as have the foundations below the tracks for Wulai Mini Railway (烏來觀光台車) – it looks particularly dangerous!

With no running water, local residents took the initiative and laid temporary water pipes, providing access to spring water. Though this has greatly aided the cleanup operation, after 11 days, the job is still far from complete. Wulai residents have no alternative but to continue with the cleanup operation and look forward to the day when things will eventually return back to normal. 

Residents strive to restore disaster stricken Wulai streets 

URL:http://www.peopo.org/news/284731

(以下是中文對照)

深入烏來老街重災區 居民努力恢復家園

照片

受到蘇迪勒颱風的影響，使得新北市烏來老街觀光區如同廢墟，8月19日、災後十一天，居民不斷的清掃家園，前幾日有許多青年、慈濟志工來清掃樹木、泥土，工程人員加緊修復道路。由於近日受到西南風以及太平壓高壓減弱影響，加上熱對流效應，午後下起滂沱大雨，使落石不斷，更讓工程人員冒雨復原主通要道，目前進入烏來老街，仍需管制通行。

老街業者中，受災最慘重的烏來溫泉大飯店，現在底下仍是滿地泥濘，加上目前仍無水源，整治起來更為辛苦。通往雲仙樂園、烏來大瀑布的步道，路基幾乎全毀，烏來台車軌道也是被掏空，看起來相當危險，由於目前無自來水，許多居民皆接山泉水，先把淤泥清除，到了第十一天，還是無法清掃完畢，居民只能努力清潔，盼烏來能夠重現原本的風光。