Heavy rain is flooding southern and central Taiwan, and the premier says budget cuts are keeping him from visiting the disaster zones in person — bad news for local governments waiting on central help.

• Days of heavy rain have caused flooding across southern and central Taiwan.
• Premier Cho Jung-tai is handling the response by phone and video call instead of going to affected areas.
• The Legislative Yuan cut 90% of the Cabinet fund that pays for the premier's disaster site visits and recovery work.
• The Cabinet says standard disaster relief rules and payments to local governments still apply.
• Cho plans to visit the flooded areas once local damage reports are gathered.

Outlook: Expect a fight between the Cabinet and the legislature over the budget cuts as flood recovery costs come due.