Typhoon Haitang, which brought tremendous rainfall and caused dozens of casualties in Taiwan, yesterday was downgraded into a less-devastating tropical storm. However, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reminded people of the danger of potential flooding, because torrential rainfall is expected to continue over the next few days.
The strength of Haitang began decreasing after it made landafall in Taiwan late Sunday. Yesterday, it was classified as a tropical storm before it departed Taiwan on its way to China. However, forecasters said that people in Taiwan should still be vigilant for heavy rains.
As of yesterday, the bureau's statistics said that since Sunday, cumulative rainfall exceeding 1,000mm had been measured in many places in Taiwan. In the south, Pingtung County's Sandimen Township (
PHOTO: HUANG SHIH-LEI, TAIPEI TAIPEIS
In Kaohsiung County, yesterday's torrential rains boosted cumulative rainfall to 1,384mm. In Ilan, many areas experienced rainfall exceeding 1,000mm. Forecasters said that peripheral air currents surrounding Haitang would bring heavy rain to Taiwan, and people must be alert over the following days.
According to George Lu (呂國臣), a division chief at the bureau's Weather Forecast Center, torrential rains will continue today in the central, southern, and southeastern parts of the country.
"Residents should avoid carrying out activities in mountains and on the beaches. Heavy rains might trigger mudflows, landslides and floods in mountainous areas," Lu said.
Because of up-to-date rainfall statistics, the number of watercourses in "critical danger" of flooding has been increased from 185 to 553 yesterday by the Council of Agriculture (COA). Meanwhile, 867 watercourses have also been identified as having the potential danger of flooding.
The council said yesterday that Haitang had caused NT$1.32 billion (US$41.4 million) in financial losses in the agricultural sector. Many crops have been ruined. Farmers in the most seriously affected counties, including Miaoli, Kaohsiung, Hualien and Taitung, will be entitled to compensation through financial aid for their losses.
The passage of Haitang has also increased the turbidity of river water. The Taiwan Water Supply Corporation (TWSC) said yesterday that water restrictions in some communities in southern Taoyuan County will be solved within days. Due to the turbidity, a single water treatment plant in the county can only treat 400,000 tonnes of water a day, rather than 600,000 tonnes as is usual. However, TWSC officials said that trucks carrying potable water would remain available for affected people at all times.
Meanwhile, Japanese water experts have been invited by TWSC to check the functioning of the Shihmen Dam (石門水庫), a major reservoir in the north of the county, because some water intakes malfunctioned after Haitang hit Taiwan. To make sure water reserves in the reservoir are available, engineers for the Water Resources Agency have been working on the establishment of pumps as alternatives.
Meanwhile, the center of the typhoon landed in China near Lianjiang County, Fujian Province just after 5pm yesterday, an official at the provincial disaster relief bureau said by telephone.
At least 850,000 people were evacuated from vulnerable areas of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces since Sunday, other state media said.
In Zhejiang's Wenzhou City, water was already filling the streets as winds of up to force 12 battered buildings, the radio report said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The national meteorological office forecast that the typhoon would move northwest overnight.
Chinese authorities have been on high alert after learning lessons last year when Typhoon Rananim devastated the area, killing at least 164 people.
Frantic round-the-clock preparations that began on Monday have seen volunteers and 5,000 of the People's Armed Police mobilized to evacuate people to higher ground, reports said.
also see story:
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS