Hualien's Mingli Village floods as Matai'an Creek overruns banks

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) Mingli Village, a small settlement in Hualien's Wanrong Township near Guangfu Township, was inundated by floodwater from Matai'an Creek amid heavy rain from Tropical Storm Fung-Wong, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said Tuesday.

In a press release, the WRA said the flooding -- which began on Monday evening -- happened in an area about 2 kilometers upstream of a temporary bridge over Matai'an Creek on Provincial Highway 9.

As no levees had been built in the area, the rising water level overran the creek's banks and flooded an industrial road, Mingli Village, and a rice seedling center, the statement said.

The WRA said its personnel visited the site of the flooding early Tuesday to lay tetrapods -- a kind of wave-dissipating concrete block -- and try to reroute the floodwater.

While Guangfu, which was hit by deadly flooding on Sept. 23, sits just to the south of Matai'an Creek, Mingli Village is about 5 kilometers to its northwest, farther upstream on the north bank of the river.

It sits on a 3-km sliver of land between Matai'an Creek in the south and Wanli River in the north, with rising mountainous terrain to the west.

According to Hualien County government data, Mingli Village had 287 registered households and a population of 730 as of October 2025.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported that WRA Director-General Lin Yuan-peng (林元鵬) said the agency had assessed the area around Mingli would be safe because of its higher elevation, and therefore did not reinforce it with protective levees.

The WRA failed to appreciate the degree to which accumulated silt [from the Sept. 23 flood] altered the terrain, he said, acknowledging an "oversight" by the agency for "not grasping actual conditions" on the ground, the report said.

Videos circulating online Wednesday showed scenes reminiscent of the recent flooding in Guangfu, with empty cars being carried away by floodwater and streets inundated with mud and debris.

As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, Tropical Storm Fung-Wong was about 280 kilometers west-southwest of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving north-northeast at 11 km per hour.

The storm had a radius of 220 km, with maximum sustained winds of 101 kph and gusts reaching 126 kph, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

The storm is expected to gradually weaken, making landfall in southwest Taiwan on Wednesday evening before moving back out to sea off Taitung County on Thursday, the CWA forecast.