Taipei: The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA) announced that the expected overflow of a barrier lake on Hualien County's Wanli River has been postponed until the early hours of Monday. This delay is attributed to increased seepage, which has altered the anticipated timeline for the overflow.

According to Focus Taiwan, the latest monitoring data from FANCA revealed that the water level was at 1,086.4 meters as of 8 a.m. on Saturday, which is 1.1 meters below the dam crest. During a Central Emergency Operations Center (CEOC) meeting, Huang Chun-tse, director of FANCA's Hualien branch, explained that drones have been deployed to monitor the water levels. These drones provided aerial images at approximately 6 a.m., helping the agency to assess the situation more accurately.

Huang stated that while seepage from the natural dam is ongoing, it appears to be limited to surface erosion. Consequently, any potential flooding is expected to remain confined within the river channel. The agency plans to continue aerial monitoring to observe any changes in the water level.

The increased seepage has slowed the rise in water levels, thereby delaying the estimated time for the dam crest to be overtopped until early Monday morning, according to Huang. Initially, the CEOC had anticipated that the barrier lake might overflow on Sunday.

Minister Without Portfolio Chi Lien-cheng, who was also in attendance at the meeting, emphasized that a "red" alert will stay in effect, warning of severe flooding. He urged local governments to keep supporting evacuated residents, despite the delay in the overflow timeline.