Typhoon damage to produce estimated at NT$37.22 million : gov't
CNA
September 24, 2013, 12:17 am TWN
TAIPEI -- Typhoon Usagi, which brought heavy rain and strong winds to Taiwan over the past few days, caused losses in the agricultural sector and also damaged several schools, government officials said yesterday.
The typhoon caused an estimated NT$37.22 million (US$1.25 million) in agricultural losses, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Monday, giving figures valid as of 11 a.m.
Of the total, losses of NT$36.65 million were sustained in the agricultural produce sector, NT$159,000 in livestock and forestry, and NT$416,000 in damage to agricultural facilities, the COA said.
Taitung County in eastern Taiwan suffered agricultural losses of NT$19.11 million, the heaviest losses of any administrative district in the country, the COA said.
Agricultural losses in Pingtung County in the south were estimated at NT$15.86 million, and in Hualien County in the east at NT$2.24 million, according to data from the council.
The crops most heavily affected by the typhoon were bananas, sugar apples, wax apples, papayas and jujubes.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education reported that the typhoon had damaged 18 schools, with the cost estimated at NT$1.92 million as of Monday.
An elementary school in Taoyuan County in the north was the most severely damaged, the ministry said, putting the cost at NT$1.5 million.
Also on Monday, the state-run Taiwan Power Co. said that some 386 households, mostly in Taitung, were still without power after the storm.
Typhoon Usagi cut power to nearly 120,000 households and left 12 people injured according to government figures. All of the people who were injured were hit by falling branches in the outlying county of Kinmen.
