More than 4,000 people in 11 cities and counties were preemptively evacuated as torrential rainfall brought by Typhoon Usagi threatened people in southern and eastern Taiwan, the Central Emergency Operation Center said.
Usagi is the strongest typhoon the nation has seen in 20 years.
Central Weather Bureau statistics showed that Tiansiang (天祥) in Hualien County has seen the highest amount of rainfall in the nation by 2pm, with accumulated rainfall between Thursday and yesterday topping 785mm.
Tiansiang was followed by Siangyang (向陽) in Taitung County and Dahanshan (大漢山), where accumulated rainfall reached 754mm and 718mm respectively.
Usagi moved further south than the bureau had forecasted, with rainfall falling below its estimates.
By 2pm yesterday, 673 people remained in shelters.
Meanwhile, the typhoon yesterday caused power outages in about 100,000 households, mainly in Pingtung and Taitung counties.
By yesterday evening, the Taiwan Power Co (台電) managed to restore the power supply to the affected homes.
In Kinmen County, eight men and four women were injured by falling trees on Saturday.
Torrential rainfall brought by Usagi devastated the hot spring scenic area in Jhihben (知本), Taitung County, with incidents and damage reported at both the north bank and south bank of the Jhihben River.
The rising water caused the levee on the north bank to collapse, leading to inundations in residents’ houses.
The Hoya Hot Springs Resort & Spa on the river’s south bank was affected by mudflows.
Images captured on the hotel’s surveillance tapes showed guests hurrying to leave.
“We were terrified,” one of the guests said. “We heard a loud bang and the front desk called us to come down. We did not bring anything with us. When the elevator opened, we were dumbfounded to see mud flowing in. We quickly fled.”
Infrastructural damage was reported in Kenting and Hengchun in Pingtung County as well.
Meanwhile, passengers eager to return Taipei after a four-day holiday started lining up at the railway station in Hualien early yesterday morning, as many who were supposed to return on Saturday were forced to spend another day in Hualien due to the cancelation of the Taipei-Hualien train service on Saturday evening.
The bureau yesterday lifted both land and sea alerts for Typhoon Usagi as it swept toward southern China, causing 106 international flights to be canceled and delaying 23 others.
Hong Kong International Airport has suspended all the flights scheduled to depart or arrive after 6pm yesterday.
Passengers traveling to Hong Kong today are advised to contact their airline before going to the airport.
Chances of showers today are high in southern and eastern Taiwan as well as in Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.
Some regions in northern and central Taiwan might also see afternoon thundershowers.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS