Recent torrential rain has caused over NT$200 million (US$6.06 million) worth of agricultural damage, Council of Agriculture (COA) officials said yesterday.
About 16 percent of the country's arable land has been adversely affected, resulting in damage worth NT$237.52 million.
Watermelon and muskmelon farmers in Miaoli will receive compensation for their losses, the council said.
PHOTO: CHEN YI-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
In southern Taiwan, the price of vegetables has reportedly been soaring due to crop damage. The price of eggplants rose from NT$30 to NT$80 per kilo and the price of balsam pears went up to NT$80 per kilo.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday traveled to Houlung township (後龍) in Miaoli County to inspect serious damage to watermelon fields caused by the rain.
Su promised cash subsidies for the farmers who suffered damages.
The COA issued a landslide alert yesterday for Miaoli, Taichung, Yunlin, Chiayi, Kaohsiung and Nantou counties.
It also raised the number of rivers on a red alert list for mudflows from 233 to 299.
The council sounded the alert shortly after the Central Weather Bureau warned that the entire country is expected to experience a lot more wet weather through Monday.
The weather forecasters said the heavy rain is caused by a stationary front that is lingering over Taiwan.
The bureau said people should take precautions against heavy or torrential rain, while those living in mountainous regions should be particularly aware of the threat of landslides, falling rocks, mudslides and flooding.
In other weather-related developments, an excavator operator was buried alive by mudslides at the intersection of Da-hua First Rd and Second Rd in Keelung.
Two workers in Pingtung became stuck in a sand bar but rescued an hour later.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS