Heavy rains in southern Taiwan have left three people dead and destroyed crops and produce worth an estimated NT$26.38 million (US$840,500), as of press time yesterday.
A mudslide buried alive a 65-year-old woman at a mountainous village in Tsochen in the southern county of Tainan earlier yesterday, while a man in the southern county of Pingtung was electrocuted, police said.
A 24-year-old motorcyclist was washed away by a flash flood in Kaohsiung County on Sunday when he attempted to move his half-soaked motorcycle away from a low-lying road, police said.
PHOTO: HSU PAI-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Kaohsiung County suffered the most agricultural damage, with NT$17.2 million in losses, according to the Council of Agriculture's (COA) estimates.
The council reported that leafy vegetables and melons have borne the brunt of the devastation.
An estimated 493 hectares of crops have been flooded as a result of the torrential rains, with 38 percent of these fields having their crops completely destroyed, according to the COA.
Next to Kaohsiung County, Pingtung County suffered the most in agricultural losses, at NT$3.97 million, followed by Tainan City, at NT$2.77 million, and Tainan County, at NT$2.44 million, the COA's statistics showed.
However, despite the heavy losses, the supply of fruit and vegetables to wholesale markets in Taipei has not been significantly affected, as these markets are mainly supplied by producers in Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties.
These counties have not been seriously affected by the recent torrential rains, the officials noted, adding however that prices in the markets could increase in the near future.
Meanwhile, in anticipation of continuing torrential rains, the COA's Soil and Water Conservation Bureau yesterday issued a red alert against possible landslides and mudflows for 40 creeks in Pingtung, Tainan and Kaohsiung counties that are vulnerable to flooding.
Thirty-six of the creeks are located in 24 villages in eight townships in Pingtung. Under the red alert, local authorities have the power to forcibly evacuate residents living near the creeks in certain situations.
Because Pingtung County's traffic was seriously affected by heavy rains and flooding, the county government yesterday ordered schools at all levels in the county to be closed.
The Central Weather Bureau said the front, which has triggered the torrential rain, will stay for as long as one week.
More heavy rain is therefore expected nationwide, the bureau said yesterday.
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to prioritize the bill for an eight-year, NT$80 billion (US$2.539 billion) flood-control project if it convenes an extra session next month.
Hsieh made the remarks while attending the annual conference of the Chinese Institute of Engineers.
Hsieh, who was Kaohsiung mayor before assuming the post of premier in February, said that southern Taiwan has been plagued by flooding for more than 10 years, and that the government was sympathetic to the plight of those affected.
Also see story:
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS