Recent torrential rain has caused over NT$200 million (US$6.06 million) worth of agricultural damage, Council of Agriculture (COA) officials said yesterday.
About 16 percent of the country's arable land has been adversely affected, resulting in damage worth NT$237.52 million.
Watermelon and muskmelon farmers in Miaoli will receive compensation for their losses, the council said.
PHOTO: CHEN YI-MIN, TAIPEI TIMES
In southern Taiwan, the price of vegetables has reportedly been soaring due to crop damage. The price of eggplants rose from NT$30 to NT$80 per kilo and the price of balsam pears went up to NT$80 per kilo.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday traveled to Houlung township (後龍) in Miaoli County to inspect serious damage to watermelon fields caused by the rain.
Su promised cash subsidies for the farmers who suffered damages.
The COA issued a landslide alert yesterday for Miaoli, Taichung, Yunlin, Chiayi, Kaohsiung and Nantou counties.
It also raised the number of rivers on a red alert list for mudflows from 233 to 299.
The council sounded the alert shortly after the Central Weather Bureau warned that the entire country is expected to experience a lot more wet weather through Monday.
The weather forecasters said the heavy rain is caused by a stationary front that is lingering over Taiwan.
The bureau said people should take precautions against heavy or torrential rain, while those living in mountainous regions should be particularly aware of the threat of landslides, falling rocks, mudslides and flooding.
In other weather-related developments, an excavator operator was buried alive by mudslides at the intersection of Da-hua First Rd and Second Rd in Keelung.
Two workers in Pingtung became stuck in a sand bar but rescued an hour later.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56