Taiwan adapts heat drill for flood response as typhoon brings unexpected rain

Taiwan adapted its extreme heat drill for flood response when Super Typhoon Kong-rey brought heavy rain on October 31, 2024. Instead of heatstroke scenarios, 300 officials from labor, fire, social welfare and medical sectors practiced rain-soaked rescues and street cooling amid downpours in New Taipei City. The drill tested responses to compound disasters - heat followed by intense rainfall - which officials say is increasingly likely as climate patterns shift.

Participants handled simulations like treating a 'homeless' heatstroke victim in wet conditions and checking construction sites in puddles. Water trucks sprayed roads to cool surfaces that would hit 50C in heat. The exercise involved 30 central agencies, 16 city bureaus, plus three companies and one medical facility. Originally postponed by a typhoon, the drill proceeded despite 44mm of rain (not deemed heavy by weather officials) and temperatures peaking at 29C.

Chang Ken-mu of Taiwan's Climate Change Administration noted: 'In the future... we could have extreme heat in the morning and intense rainfall in the afternoon, turning a heat drill into a flood drill. This is very likely to happen in Taiwan.' For Nigerian climate planners facing similar weather whiplash, what adaptive measures should be built into national disaster preparedness drills?

SOURCE: https://www.channelstv.com/2026/09/03/heavy-rain-dampens-taiwans-extreme-heat-drill/