Water levels at the Swallow Grotto Trail (Yanzikou, 燕子口步道) barrier lake in Hualien County’s Taroko National Park have stabilized, with inflows and outflows in balance, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said yesterday.
Huang Chun-tse (黃群策), head of the agency’s Hualien Office, said the overflow from the lake remains steady and that the dam, composed mainly of marble and granite, is structurally stable.
Because of its composition, the dam is less likely to generate large amounts of sediment or mudflows, unlike the barrier lake that formed on the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪), which overflowed catastrophically during a storm last month, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Hualien office
The new Swallow Grotto lake formed on Friday after a landslide in the upper reaches of the Liwu River (立霧溪), Huang said.
The water is flowing from the west entrance of the Jin Heng Tunnel through the east entrance, and over the Ludan Bridge (魯丹橋) into Ludan Creek (魯丹溪), then rejoining the Liwu River, he said.
Experts have been commissioned to plan a risk-reduction project to gradually shave the upper section of the dam to improve drainage, Huang added.
However, heavy rainfall brought by seasonal monsoon winds and Tropical Storm Fengshen made access difficult, and unstable roadbeds in the area pose safety risks, which have delayed the work, he said.
The Central Weather Administration said that the current weather system could bring heavy rain to northern Hualien, with up to 2.5cm expected in the Swallow Grotto area today and as much as 3.4cm tomorrow.
The agency urged the public to stay away from the lower reaches of the Liwu River and nearby waterways due to the risk of flash floods and landslides.
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