Taipei: Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang announced on Sunday that evacuation alerts for major mudslide floods, including those involving barrier lakes, will be upgraded to a tsunami-level warning to signal a heightened state of emergency. This decision was made at a Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) meeting following the overflow of the Matai’an Creek Barrier Lake in Hualien County, caused by heavy rains from Typhoon Ragasa. The overflow resulted in severe floods, leaving 17 people dead and seven missing as of Sunday morning.
According to Focus Taiwan, the National Fire Agency and National Police Agency are set to review their standard operating procedures and will incorporate barrier lake evacuations into their alert systems. Vice Economics Minister Lai Chien-hsin announced that three alarm stations will be installed near barrier lakes. These stations will sound nine five-second alarms to signal evacuations during such emergencies.
Discussing the current emergency response to the flood disaster in eastern Taiwan, Lai stated that search and rescue operations are actively ongoing. Airborne Service Corps helicopters are deployed for locating survivors, and excavation begins immediately upon detecting vital signs. The county government’s police and shelter systems are assisting in locating missing persons.
Lai also noted that the Water Resources Agency of the ministry completed riverbed diversion operations on Sunday. Efforts to block the floods are currently underway, with plans to complete them by the end of the day. A CEOC report indicated that drone aerial shots show the top of the barrier lake dam has decreased from 200 meters to 82 meters in height. The lake’s surface area has reduced drastically from 140 hectares to 13.5 hectares, now holding only 6 million cubic meters of water, which is 6.6 percent of its original volume before the overflow.
The CEOC maintains a “red alert” for the area, citing the erosion caused by the lake’s outflow and continued rainfall, which contribute to unstable slopes.