Typhoon Conson failed to bring rain for much of the parched south of the country as had been expected, as the typhoon slowly veered away from Taiwan on Wednesday, the Water Resources Agency said yesterday.
The agency, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, was hoping the typhoon would bring precipitation to the Tainan and Chiayi regions, but since the typhoon did not make landfall on the west coast as had been forecast, reservoirs in the south were barely affected.
Reservoirs in the area still face serious water shortages, officials at the agency said.
The Tsengwen Reservoir in Tainan County and the nearby Wushantou Reservoir currently hold a combined 45 million tonnes of water, while the Nanhua Reservoir holds 47 million tonnes.
Normal civic and industrial use is expected to use 92 million tonnes of water over the next two months, Wu said, adding there isn't enough water for irrigating rice paddies.
According to Wu, irrigation for the second crop of about 18,000 hectares of farmland on the Chianan Plain -- Taiwan's leading granary -- will require approximately 300 million tonnes of water.
For the time being, the Chianan Irrigation Association has divided the farmland under its charge into eight groups, and irrigation will be carried out on a rotating basis pending future rainfall, he noted.
In the past, the amount of rainfall in June in the catchment area of the Tsengwen Reservoir averaged 500mm. Precipitation totalled 800mm in June last year.
Different regions in Taiwan have in recent years been troubled by water shortages as a result of a steep decrease in rainfall.
In 2002 and last year, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu in the north were hit hard by an acute dry spell, forcing a national anti-drought task force to impose water conservation measures on residents.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)