Climate and Natural Disasters

Typhoon Ragasa Forces Evacuations in Hualien

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By Howard Chang/Irene Lin

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Taiwan’s weather officials have lifted a land warning for Typhoon Ragasa as it moves toward China’s southeastern coast, but the storm's strong winds and rain forced the evacuation of thousands of people living near a breaching dam and stoked worries about produce prices spiking.

“The king of the winds” is what people in Taiwan are calling Typhoon Ragasa.

Although it never crossed the main island, its periphery has brought wind and torrential rain to the country’s southeast and eastern counties.

In Hualien, authorities have evacuated thousands of people living within 10 kilometers from a breaching dam.

Outside of the impact zone, some schools in northeastern Yilan County are suspending classes over fears of danger on the way to school.

Weather officials lifted a land warning on Tuesday morning as the typhoon moved away, heading towards China’s southern province of Guandong.

But rain in Taiwan is still expected through Wednesday.

The most impacted area seems to  

cluster southward of Yilan  

including Hualien, Taitung and the Hengchun Peninsula.  

There's also a chance Kaohsiung and Pingtung’s mountains  

will see significant rainfall.

In Taipei, on and off rain since Monday is dampening the mood in produce markets.

Some vendors say it’s too early to tell if the typhoon will scale up prices, but this year’s harvests appear stronger thanks to farmers being better prepared after three back-to-back storms in July and August.

The harvest has been relatively stable.

Also, farmers have been storing their produce in fridges

so it's all still fresh.

I only worry that if there’s heavy rain

some of the leafy vegetables might drown

which could damage them.

It means the price difference  

between good and bad-quality produce would increase.

But some vegetables from central and southern Taiwan are now more expensive as farmers recover from previous storms and grapple with competition from around the region.

Green onions from central and southern Taiwan  

were submerged by floodwaters.

It takes three to six months to grow back  

and be ready for harvest again.

During that gap

prices of green onions from Yilan also go up.

The country is gearing up to celebrate the Mid-autumn festival, where pomelos are an irreplaceable part of the festivities.

These pomelos are from Madou in Tainan—an area in the south that’s been hit hard, with supply dwindling and prices skyrocketing.

Pomelos are nearly [US$1] more per fruit than last year.

(How different are prices depending on quality?)

The price gaps are huge.

Some could go up by [US$1.65-US$3.30].

(Do you worry no one will buy them?)

Not at all. Pomelos are a festive food.

People who eat them during the holiday [will buy them].

Those who don’t eat them won't buy them anyway.

Taiwan’s typhoon season can stretch close to the end of the year. With each storm, government and local residents hope to adapt better to any potential threats.