Typhoons 2017

They explained on the news that large portions of Pingtung are actually under sea level…hence, flooding.

To that we add the fish ponds, the underwater resources used for factories, deforestation and planting of betel nut trees, plus the concrete carpet over everything. Hence, flooding.

Moreover, rain levels will be more and more cathastrophic, as that climate change brings heavier and stronger storms. Hence, flooding.

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There seems to be some kind of damage to the transmission plant at Hoping, so our bunker is without AC… sigh…

Electricity in yilan came back during the night. This morning internet was not working, though.

Hopefully when I get home after work I’ll manage to start arranging the pics and videos I took during the typhoon.

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I can see a major flooding disaster about to hit China in what would usually be a fairly protected area

As an elected official, I appreciate your input and my office receives thousands of similar expressions of concern from the venerable constituents of Taidong each month

Much of their feedback is in relation to the perilous, open cut landslide that looms over Highway 11 near Dulan and the partial road collapse that occurred there in last year’s typhoon which has gone unrepaired for a full year

My answer to them is this:

Firstly, we did repair it. In fact we had a backhoe guy in there the very next day who cleared the road so cars could get through, and within a few weeks the cement guy turned up to cover the cracks on the bits of road that hadn’t yet fallen off the cliff to the sea below

Furthermore, we put up some yellow tape and at least three witches hats on the crumbling cliff edge

Secondly, and most importantly:

It’s a budget problem

There’s only a certain amount of cake to go around and as money makes a very delicious cake, it’s unrealistic to expect there would be enough to do everything

As I am sure you can understand, it’s a matter of Prioritising

I assure you we take that responsibility on with both a sense of tremendous humility as well as great enthusiasm for the task at hand

Yours Sincerely

The Taidong Council

PS: If you could kindly contact our office and leave details of your passport number and GPS co-ordinates, then we will be able to deal with your complaint personally

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Dear Sir,
Many thanks for your timely and informative response.
As a concerned resident, one is glad to do anything one can to help out.
Commensurately, I have prepared documentation providing personal information, including bank and credit statements, as well as declarations of ownership for not only myself, but also for my spouse, children, and in-laws.
I am more than happy to remit them for your reference.
Alls you need to do is figure out which frigging dumpster I’m currently staking out, and it’s all yours.
Jack.
As always, bless you and the fine work you do.

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I am a Nigeria prince. Can I get the money instead?

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I wonder did it rain harder there in Tainan, than here in Kaoshiung or just bad flood control in Tainan (Pingtung seems got much more rain)? It was raining in Kaoshiung, but way below flood levels or other storms last year (last year one of storms looked like love river would overflow it’s banks, today/yesterday not so much above normal levels). It was semi 3 day weekend here with the day off, café was full like a weekend a lunch as lots (not everyone) people were off work. Our office building was quite empty and was the parking below, but seems quite a fewsmaller companies were working.

Large parts of Tainan were under water not so many years ago. The coastline is extending there due to typhoons and the silt they bring down from the mountains.

And the Bible says: Matthew 7:24-27

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

And so is the story of the Three Little Pigs, and the big building that fell in the last earthquake in Tainan.

Make sure your house is not built on recently deposited sand, nor contains ocean sand as part of the concrete.

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Tainan has huge issues with water subsidence right?
A fair amount is probably semi reclaimed from estuaries and scrubby land.

I’ll be in Taipei on 8/17. This is my second time visiting but my first time to come during typhoon season. Can you guys recommend on what attire to wear? Would I need to bring rain boots?

A wifebeater, basketball shorts, and blue and white sandals should do ya. Slacks and a leather belt if you’re going to the classy 7-11 though.

I can’t imagine rainboots would be needed.

Unless you plan to be in the high mountains, you should expect screeching hot weather. So comfortable clothes and footwear would be ideal, especially clothes that breathe. A hat and sunscreen (easily purchasable here, but unless you’re familiar with Japanese brands it may be easier to bring some with you). A portable umbrella. Bring a light shell too–you won’t need it outdoors, but you may need it indoors in places that blast the air conditioning!

Safe travels and enjoy your trip!

Guy

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I do prefer wearing rainboots because once water reaches ankle level, heaven knows where it came from and what it is carrying and the risk of bacterial infection is way too high. Sandals can be slippery too, falls can be life threatening, and if you have to make a hasty retreat from incoming water/a vehicle of any kind and size that has lost control/etc. or just want to keep your feet on the ground, then rainboots are your friends.

Waterproof shoes are also advisable. Nice leather ones, even Birkenstocks, suffer a horrible demise in this friggin humidity.

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Taipei and Tainan Mayors apologize for typhoon errors. (Both looking at future elections…)

http://m.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2017/08/01/499740/Apologizing-mayors.htm

I’ve failed my country and people again

He closes the city because there’s an imminent threat, but it doesn’t show up, people get mad that they need to take a day off of work. C’moooon! I understand some people may need those hours, but…c’moooon.

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I’d like to send Ko a video of the cleanup in my hood in the morning and the hurricane winds in the afternoon. Day off my foot. Heck, we had the garbage truck come over in the evening, it was such a mess.

Failing for putting people over profits? Pero que te pasa, chico!

Tainan was worse. As per talk shows, they say rain was forecasted at 320 mm and the cutoff for typhoon leave is 350 mm. They knew this the night before and decided to err even though the margin was too little.

OK, I understand weather forecasting is not exact but seriously, governments should err on the side of caution. In Xindian, every gust of wind was followed by the wail of ambulances. Scooter drivers knocked off their vehicles mostly, but also car accidents - which I noticed did not count in the fatalities list this time - are caused by awful driving conditions.

Now, I think anyways CWB really needs to set up an office down South. And populate it with local people who have a stake in keeping their folk alive.

Like the EVA crews. Kudos to them. They heroically performed a strike against their irresponsible bgosses. While even China Scarelines cancelled flights the day before, their superiors expected them to fly no matter waht. So they walked out. CAL took the loss of 20 to 30 delated/cancelled flights. EVA took a bigger hit of 50 because of the bosses irresponsibility. EVA has a perfect track record and their people are commited to keeping it. Bravo!

Well… those places were a lake…

Unless they pull off a Taipei Yuanshanzi flood control engineering level water project, which CSB built with 6 billion NTD back in the day, then those areas in Tainan will continue to flood as climate change worsens.

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So they built it and it did not work or they did not finish it? That is the problem with the government’s excessive focus on Taipei: leaves nothing for the rest, no attention, no plans, no money.

In other news, this is what I was taklking about:

Taipei, July 31 (CNA) The government has taken a decision to shut down all the air conditioners in its offices for two hours a day in a bid to conserve electricity in the wake of two storms that damaged the country’s power supply over the weekend, the Cabinet said Monday.

Typhoon Nesat and Tropical Storm Haitang brought down a transmission tower, operated by the independent power producer Ho-Ping Power Co. (和平電力) in Hualien County, which has reduced supply by 1.3 million kilowatts (kW), said Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇).

In an effort to conserve power over the next two weeks while the tower is being repaired, the air conditioners in all government buildings will be turned off from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. each workday, Hsu said.

Not all day, thank goodness, but still unconfortable.Please note most offices also turn off AC at noon. I am seriously considering a suitable attire. I already wore a short sleeveless sundress to work, people joked I was wearing my jammies.:persevere: But it gets so hot!

GF works in those government offices and they are mandated to keep the thermostat at 28C. At 28C when it’s 34C outside, there’s really no difference.

Now they want to turn off AC from 1-3PM…hottest time of the day. Not to mention a lot of the office buildings do not have air flow and don’t have windows to open.