The Central Weather Bureau warned yesterday that tropical storm Tembin could return early this week, after triggering the worst downpour in over a century on the nation’s southernmost tip.
Tembin, initially categorized as a “severe” typhoon by the Hong Kong Observatory, swept across southern Taiwan on Friday before moving out to sea.
“There is a roughly 50 percent risk that Tembin could affect Taiwan again on Monday or Tuesday, depending on its path,” bureau forecaster Lin Pin-yu (林秉煜) said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Tembin’s future course hinged partly on Bolaven, a very strong typhoon close to Okinawa which was not expected to head directly to Taiwan, he said.
Tembin unleashed precipitation in southern Pingtung County that was described as the worst in more than a century.
While weather bureau data showed Pingtung as a whole had received 724mm of rain since Wednesday, the township of Hengchun (恆春) saw rainfall of over 600mm on Friday alone.
That was the highest amount of rainfall recorded in Hengchun since 1896, according to the bureau.
Television footage showed scenes from villages in Pingtung County where pedestrians were walking through ankle-deep water, while workers removed debris left by floods.
The latest typhoon left five people injured, including two firefighters, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.
The weather bureau lifted its land warning earlier yesterday as Tembin moved away and was downgraded to a tropical storm, but warned of more rains in the south.
As of 2:30pm, Tembin was 190km north-northeast of the Dongsha Islands (東沙群島) in the South China Sea.
With a radius of 150km and packing winds gusting at up to 101kph, it was moving west-southwest at 7kph.
About 500 military personnel helped residents in Hengchun clean up flooded areas yesterday.
Tembin caused power outages, road closures and floods, most of which have subsided as of early yesterday. Electricity was scheduled to be restored to all of the more than 30,000 affected households in the Hengchun area by late yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Alishan Highway (Highway No. 18) in Chiayi, which was closed in preparation for Typhoon Tembin, opened to traffic yesterday, but the Alishan Forest Recreation Park remains closed to tourists.
When the popular forest park is to reopen depends on the movement of Tembin, which may make a comeback because of the influence of the nearby Typhoon Bolaven, according to the Chiayi Forest District Office.
According to the Council of Agriculture, the total agricultural damage caused by Tembin has reached an estimated NT$116.39 million as of 3pm yesterday.
So far, the damage in Taitung County has reached about NT$51.17 million, followed by Hualien County with estimated damages of NT$36.8 million and damage in Pingtung County reaching NT$27.81 million, the council said.
The total crop damage has reached NT$63.39 million, with 1,224 hectares of farmland affected.
The crops that suffered most were custard apples, with losses estimated at NT$27.95 (US$3.9 million) million, and bananas with losses of NT$12.96 million, followed by other fruit, ginger and watermelons.
Damage caused to the fishing and aquaculture industries has reached about NT$18.25 million, with the most damage caused in fish farms at Pingtung’s Checheng Township (車城).
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would severely threaten the national security of the US, Japan, the Philippines and other nations, while global economic losses could reach US$10 trillion, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) wrote in an article published yesterday in Foreign Affairs. “The future of Taiwan is not merely a regional concern; it is a test of whether the international order can withstand the pressure of authoritarian expansionism,” Lin wrote in the article titled “Taiwan’s Plan for Peace Through Strength — How Investments in Resilience Can Deter Beijing.” Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) intent to take Taiwan by force