Rain eases water woes in south, but effect limited - 台北時報

Rain eases water woes in south, but effect limited - Taipei Times

Southern Taiwan has enough water to last through next month thanks to the current plum rain front, although the total amount of rainfall was limited, the Water Resources Agency said on Monday.

An estimated 16.64 cubic meters of rain entered the nation’s reservoirs between 7am on Saturday and 8am on Monday, as the first weather front of the plum rain season swept over Taiwan, agency data showed.

Of that amount, 1.2 million cubic meters fell in the Zengwen (曾文) and Wushantou (烏山頭) reservoirs in southern Taiwan, bringing them collectively to 13.3 percent capacity.

Photo courtesy of the Water Resources Agency via CNA

However, this wave of rainfall mostly aided reservoirs in central Taiwan, which gained about 11.4 million cubic meters.

Rain fell over downstream farmland as well as in upstream catchment areas, helping reduce the amount of reservoir water needed for irrigation, the agency said, calling the rain “timely” for parched agricultural areas in the center of the country.

Although the south did not receive a lot of rain, it was “better than nothing,” an agency official said.

The area still needs more rainfall to ease drought concerns, and with the current front clearing out on Monday evening and forecasts for the next one uncertain, it is not clear when water rationing could end, the official said.

Tainan and Kaohsiung remain under an “orange” water conservation alert, with limited water supply to some large commercial users.

The Central Weather Bureau is forecasting dry weather until the next plum rain front on Saturday brings the potential for sporadic showers, although it expects the front to pass quickly.

When China sailed one of its two aircraft carriers, the Shandong, east of Taiwan proper last month as part of military drills surrounding the island, it was showcasing a capability that it has yet to master and could take years to perfect. As Beijing modernizes the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including its missile forces and naval vessels, such as cutting-edge cruisers, it is posing a concern for the US and its allies. However, it could take more than a decade before China can mount a credible carrier threat far from its shores, four military attaches and six defense analysts familiar

SPIES LIKE US: Shao Wei-chiang had recruited at least two people, including a former army colonel who was in February sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison A retired army lieutenant who operates a travel agency in Kinmen County has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for trying to build a spy network for China by targeting Taiwanese military officers. The Kinmen District Court on Thursday found Shao Wei-chiang (邵維強), owner of Safety Travel Service Co, guilty of contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Banking Act (銀行法). Shao, 59, had also worked as a TV reporter for 27 years — as the Kinmen correspondent for Taiwan’s China Television Co (CTV) from 1993 to 2019. He has been operating a travel agency since 1993. Lured by financial incentives,

LOVERS’ SPAT? Media reports said the woman had prepared the rat poison for herself after quarreling with Alex Shorey, but that he had accidentally ingested it The girlfriend of an Australian man who was sickened by rat poison has been ordered not to leave the country, Taipei prosecutors said yesterday, after reports that she told prosecutors she had prepared the poison for herself. Australian Alex Shorey, 24, left Taiwan on Wednesday on a medical evacuation flight bound for Queensland, where he is continuing to receive treatment after ingesting the rat poison superwarfarin. Authorities searched the residence of Shorey’s Taiwanese girlfriend on Wednesday as the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office opened an investigation into the case. Also conducting investigations are the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division and Xinyi Precinct, which

SERVICE: While some soldiers were expelled, others applied for early release due to different career plans, maladaptation, illness and family issues, a report said The number of volunteer enlisted soldiers determined unfit for active duty reached 4,066 last year, a record high, a Ministry of National Defense report showed. Starting next year, Taiwan is to restore compulsory military service to one year for men who were born in 2005 or later, and who are aged 18 or older. However, as many young men go to college or university after graduating from high school, the ministry expects there to only be about 9,100 draftees serving the one-year compulsory military service next year, reaching about 35,000 draftees in 2027. However, the main force to defend the nation’s land, waters