Another day of heavy rain across a swath of Taiwan yesterday deepened the nation's weather woes as a forecast called for yet more rain and a typhoon -- a combination likely to further aggravate flood damage and other weather-related problems.
Severe flooding wreaked havoc in the south as rescue workers scrambled to save lives and property. Receiving more than 1,000mm of rain in several days, Pingtung County is so far the hardest hit of the affected areas. The townships of Machia (
The Coast Guard Administration dropped food and supplies by helicopter to residents in remote Haocha Village (好茶), Pingtung County, after the Aboriginal community was cut off by landslides that knocked out roads and utilities.
PHOTO: FANG CHIH-HSIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Parts of Kaohsiung City and County were also flooded yesterday, as firemen scrambled to pry free a gate to an underground parking lot in the city amid heavy rains that threatened to submerge the lot's vehicles. The city's Love River rose 100mm above its usual level as hundreds of millimeters of rain accumulated in the area.
TV footage yesterday showed residents from southern to central Taiwan in ankle or knee-deep water rushing to relocate their first-floor belongings. Floodwater was up to the residents' waists in some places, such as Paoan Village (
Damage to agriculture has already led to a 20 to 30 percent increase in the price of locally grown fruit and vegetables, SET TV reported.
Chiayi County Commissioner Chuo Po-yuan (
Chuo called on the Council of Agriculture to compensate farmers for their losses and consider emergency response measures, the Central News Agency reported.
The Ministry of Finance, meanwhile, announced that damage to property suffered after heavy rains could be included as a tax write-off.
Flooding in townships across Kaohsiung County abated yesterday, with residents emerging from their homes to assess the damage. Affected by its worst flooding in 30 years, roads in the popular Hakka tourist township of Meinung (
Nearly 3,000 tourists stranded on Green Island, Taitung County, for several days because of rough seas finally boarded ferries yesterday after the waters calmed.
Meanwhile, located 1,150km southeast of Taiwan and moving at 13kph, Typhoon Sepat is expected to continue moving toward the nation, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The typhoon is expected to continue gathering strength on its approach, the bureau said.
The bureau is waiting until tomorrow before predicting if Sepat will make landfall on Taiwan. But it said that the typhoon would bring more rain until at least Monday regardless of its course.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS