Households in areas where flooding exceeded 50cm due to Typhoon Gaemi are to receive NT$20,000 each in planned relief funding, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai announced the subsidies after being briefed about the storm situation during an inspection of severely affected areas in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃).
In areas where there was flooding, but under 50cm, low-to-middle-income households would receive NT$10,000, Lai added.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The money would be drawn from the central government’s budget, Lai said.
He urged the legislature to swiftly approve the funds once it begins a new session in September.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Finance is mulling tax relief for individuals and businesses in areas severely affected by the typhoon, which brought heavy rainfall to central and southern Taiwan before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
Photo: CNA
Duonalindao (多納林道) in Kaohsiung’s Maolin District (茂林) had 1,835mm of accumulated rainfall from Wednesday to noon yesterday, while Chiayi County’s Fencihu Township (奮起湖) had 1,677.5mm, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed.
Lai commended the Kaohsiung City Government’s efforts to enhance the city’s flood control system. While accumulated rainfall in the city was comparable to that brought by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, the flooding was less severe, he said.
Morakot caused catastrophic damage in Taiwan, killing at least 681 people, with 18 still missing, a Cabinet report said.
Lai said that additional cash would be provided to compensate for agricultural losses from Gaemi.
He promised to boost financial support for local governments to improve river infrastructure, including water detention facilities, to enhance the nation’s resilience to climate shocks.
The CWA yesterday morning lifted sea and land warnings for Gaemi, but added that heavy rain was likely to persist in many parts of Taiwan.
As of 8am yesterday, the eye of the storm was over China, roughly 200km west of Taiwan’s Lienchiang County, the CWA said.
It was moving at 9kph, down from 17kph, it said.
It had weakened and posed no further threat to Taiwan’s northern waters, or Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, it said.
The agency issued extremely heavy or heavy rain advisories for 15 administrative regions, including Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Miaoli and Pingtung counties, and mountainous areas in Nantou County.
The CWA defines extremely heavy rain as accumulated rainfall of more than 200mm in a day or more than 100mm in three hours. Heavy rain means accumulated rainfall of at least 80mm within a 24-hour period.
Meanwhile, a tropical cloud system has developed east of the Philippines and is expected to move northwest toward Taiwan.
The system is forecast to become a tropical depression and approach Taiwan’s waters on Monday or Tuesday, the CWA said,
It is too early to tell if the system would become a tropical storm, it said, adding that even if it does not, it could still bring rain to the nation.
Additional reporting by Huang Chia-ling
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