One person died and nine were injured after Severe Tropical Storm Bailu made landfall in Pingtung County on Saturday, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday.
An 18-year-old drove a motorcycle into a fallen tree in Tainan at 11:49pm on Saturday and died after branches punctured his chest, the center said.
Two other people — a 21-year-old woman on a scooter and a 32-year-old man on a motorcycle — were injured in Tainan after driving into trees that had fallen into the street.
Photo: CNA
In Nantou County’s Yuchih Township (魚池), a 73-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman were hurt when trees fell on them.
Meanwhile, five people were injured in Taitung County: three in Taitung City, one on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and one in Daren Township (達仁), the center’s statistics showed.
About 117,500 households lost power at one point, the center said, adding that power was expected to be restored by 5pm yesterday to the 1,328 households in Taitung, Hualien, Pingtung and Chiayi counties that still did not have power.
The center also said that 3,436 people were forced to evacuate because of the storm, adding that 252 of them remained in shelters.
The Central Weather Bureau lifted the land warning for the storm at 8:30am and lifted the sea warning for it at 11:30am.
The storm reached China’s Fujian Province at 7am and was about weaken to a tropical depression, the bureau said.
Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co said the average retail price for vegetables was NT$42.2 (US$1.34) per kilogram yesterday, slightly down from the average price of NT$43.7 per kilogram on Friday last week, the day before the storm arrived.
Although the average retail price for vegetables dropped at one point, it rebounded again when fewer vegetables arrived at the market yesterday and because the retail market is closed on Mondays.
Only 1,220 tonnes of vegetables arrived at the market yesterday, 20 percent less than on Saturday, the company said.
The largest retail price increase was seen in the cabbages that are harvested in mountainous areas. Their price rose from NT$26.5 per kilogram to NT$36.1 per kilogram.
Baby bok choy cost NT$85.3 per kilogram, up 33 percent compared with Saturday.
The retail price for Chinese amaranth also rose 26 percent to NT$57.8 per kilogram, while cucumber and corn prices dropped 18.2 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
The storm damaged NT$25.26 million worth of crops, while NT$215,000 in damage was done to agricultural facilities, Council of Agriculture statistics showed.
Taitung County sustained the most agricultural losses, followed by Hualien and Pingtung counties, and Kaohsiung, the council said.
Banana crops were the most severely hit, with NT$14.61 million in damage, the council said, adding that sugar apples, papayas, watermelons and corn were the next-most affected crops.
The Ministry of Education said that 11 secondary and primary schools reported damage to their facilities.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to