At least 14 people have been confirmed dead and more than 150 remain missing after a natural barrier lake in Taiwan’s eastern Hualien County burst on Tuesday, following days of torrential rain unleashed by Super Typhoon Ragasa.
The decades-old lake, formed by landslides that created a natural dam, collapsed under pressure from continuous downpours. The sudden breach sent torrents of water and thick mud surging through Kuang Fu township, destroying a bridge, inundating homes, and leaving streets buried in sludge.
“It was like a volcano erupting… the muddy floodwaters came roaring straight into the first floor of my house,” said 55-year-old community leader Hsu Cheng-hsiung.
Local officials said 18 people were injured in addition to the fatalities, while the National Fire Agency confirmed that at least 152 people were still unaccounted for in Hualien and neighbouring areas.
Premier Cho Jung-tai, who visited the disaster zone on Wednesday, vowed government support for survivors and accountability for the tragedy.
“For the 14 people who lost their lives, we must find out why evacuation orders were not carried out in the affected area, leading to such a tragedy,” he said. “Our greatest concern right now is locating those still missing.”
Residents described scenes of panic and devastation. Yen Shau, 31, said he narrowly escaped after the water level surged within minutes, trapping people in a supermarket and grocery store.
“Within minutes, the water had risen to halfway up the first floor,” he recalled. “The mud was just too deep, too deep to dig out.”
Footage released by emergency services showed flooded streets, half-submerged cars, and uprooted trees, underscoring the scale of destruction left in the wake of Ragasa.
Rescue operations are ongoing, with authorities racing against time to find survivors amid fears of further landslides and flooding.
