Leaving at least two people dead in its wake, Typhoon Mindulle was expected to leave Taiwan last night, dumping more rain onto the island's central and southern regions, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
The rainfall brought by Mindulle has temporarily relieved the thirst of southern Taiwan, which has suffered a drought during the past months.
At least two people were killed during the storm as of press time last night. The pair was killed in a landslide on a road in Alishan.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Hualien resident Lee Cheng-nan (
The storm, which packed winds of 90kph and gusts of up to 120kph as it swept past the nation, began dumping rain yesterday morning. Streets in Taipei County's Sanchung City and Pingtung's Dong-kong District were flooded.
Typhoon Mindulle brought 6.78cm of rainfall to Hualien County and 5.05cm to Taitung County.
The south also received around 3cm to 4cm rainfall. Water levels at Tsengwen Reservoir in Tainan County climbed higher, with 1.87cm of rainfall.
The storm also disrupted the eastern region's electric grid, leaving 53,206 households in Hualien and 12,063 households in Taitung without power. A total of 70,823 households nationwide were affected by blackouts.
Domestic air and sea traffic were also at a standstill yesterday. Airports in Taitung, Green Island, Lanyu and Hengchun were shut down, while all ferry services between Taiwan and its islets were interrupted. The Taiwan Railway Administration resumed operation after delaying trains on the Taipei-Hualien line yesterday afternoon.
The weather bureau said it could lift the land warning by 11:30pm last night and might issue an alert for heavy rain brought by the typhoon's wake.
Typhoon Mindulle affected domestic air transportation, causing a temporary closure of Taipei's Sungshan Airport yesterday morning.
Domestic flights resumed normal operations around 3pm yesterday, while international flight schedules were unaffected, according to air carriers.
Business activity across Taiwan remained normal yesterday, while retailers saw marked growth in the sale of household necessities, such as instant noodles.
Brenda Yen (
The sales volume for bottled water and batteries also rose around 50 percent, she added.
Stockpiling of foods prior to a typhoon's arrival was not as prevalent as it has been in past years, but fears of shortages due to damaged crops may trigger retailers to raise prices of produce over the next few days.
Kaohsiung and Hualien counties reported agricultural losses at NT$10 million and NT$200 million, respectively, the Central News Agency said yesterday, citing estimates by county governments.
additional reporting by Jackie Lin
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
RSS