The cleanup of Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復), following devastation wrought by Super Typhoon Ragasa last month, could be completed by the Mid-Autumn Festival on Monday next week, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said yesterday.
Mud and debris surged through the region after a barrier lake on the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) burst on Tuesday last week, when torrential rainfall brought by the typhoon caused extensive flooding.
More rain is expected in Hualien and Taitung counties tomorrow and on Saturday, although it is not forecast to reach typhoon levels, Peng said.
Photo: CNA
The rain would aid cleanup efforts, as it would soften mud that has begun to harden, making it easier to remove, he said.
The main concern is whether the barrier lake would collapse again under the additional rainfall, he said.
Current monitoring shows that the water level in the dam remains low and it is not expected to cause further damage, he said.
As of yesterday, a total of 10,267 tonnes of mud and 34,808 tonnes of trash had been cleared from Guangfu Township, the ministry said.
Traffic coordination was again enforced yesterday with assistance from the military, while cleanup efforts have accelerated, with the total volume of cleared mud and garbage expected to reach 50,000 tonnes today, with at least 10,000 tonnes to be cleared per day until completion, Peng said.
It is estimated that 30 million tonnes of washed-out mud remains outside of Guangfu’s urban areas, he said.
The cleanup would require significant effort to be completed by Monday, with priority given to debris affecting households, drainage systems and septic tanks, he added.
The Central Emergency Operation Center said that 18 people had been killed, 125 people were injured and six people remained unaccounted for.
While natural disasters are unpredictable by nature, the government would seek to enhance early warning systems to ensure public safety, Peng said.
Meanwhile, 89 households in Daping (大平) and Datong (大同) villages in Hualien’s low-lying areas have sustained severe damage, requiring extensive repairs, while large swathes of the community and farmland were flooded, Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚) said yesterday.
As the nearby riverbed has since risen in elevation, the county is seeking central government support to establish temporary housing for affected residents while it considers relocating the two villages, he said.
The Hualien County Government has so far dispatched 790 mud removal trucks with help from the Hualien County Environmental Protection Bureau and the Ministry of Environment, he added.
Within three days, 70m of ditches were cleared, and all septic tanks are operational, Hsu said.
More than 100 removal trucks are entering the area each day, with traffic control in place to ensure efficiency, she added.
The main disaster areas in Guangfu are Daping, Datong, Dama (大馬), Dahua (大華) and Daan (大安) villages, with about 1,500 homes filled with mud, and government offices, schools and public institutions affected by the floods.
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