The southwest braced for strong winds and rain brought by Tropical Storm Haitang yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Typhoon Nesat pummeled the nation, injuring 111 people.
According to the Central Weather Bureau, Haitang’s eye made landfall in Pingtung County’s Fonggang (楓港) at 4:40pm and was moving northwest at 12kph.
It was the first time since 1958 that two tropical storms made landfall in Taiwan within 24 hours.
Photo: The Taiwan Military News Agency via EPA
The bureau projected that Haitang would move across the southeast and the central mountain range before reaching the west coast.
Residents in Nantou, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as counties south of Chiayi, were on high alert for damage.
Although Haitang is to gradually weaken into a tropical depression, the bureau said that the southwest monsoon induced by the storm would continue to bring rain nationwide until Thursday.
Bureau statistics showed that both Nesat and Haitang have contributed to significant rainfall nationwide.
As of 6:15pm, Jiadong Township (佳冬) in Pingtung County had the highest accumulated rainfall of 640mm, followed by Taipingshan (太平山) in Yilan County (487mm) and the area south of Tianchi (天池) in Kaohsiung County (407mm).
Apart from Jiadong, heavy rains caused flooding in seven other townships in Pingtung County, which has suffered the most damage caused by the storms.
As of 7pm, the Central Emergency Operations Center reported that 111 people had been injured since Saturday.
About 1,300 people remain in shelters, it said, adding that power has yet to be restored to about 52,000 households.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration said that 267 domestic flights were canceled yesterday, while 138 international flights were canceled and 101 were either delayed or postponed.
The Maritime Port Bureau also reported that 163 shipping services were canceled yesterday and that 104 shipping services would be canceled today.
The Taiwan Railways Administration said the operation of the Alishan Forest Railway would be canceled for today.
As of 5pm, agricultural losses were estimated at NT$171.89 million (US$5.67 million). Yilan County, where Nesat made landfall, shouldered 68 percent of the loss.
It was followed by Pingtung County (24 percent), Hualien County (3 percent), New Taipei City (2 percent) and Taitung (1 percent).
The three most severely damaged crops were green onions (159 hectares), guavas (125 hectares) and bananas (233 hectares).
Nesat also damaged 199 schools nationwide, with the cost estimated at NT$17.8 million, data released yesterday afternoon by the Ministry of Education showed.
The highest percentage of schools reporting facility damage was in Yilan County, with 75 schools in need of repairs, followed by 66 schools in Taipei and 29 in New Taipei City.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique