As Fung Wong Cleanup Gets Going, Plans Grow to Tame Flood-Prone River

TaiwanPlus News

Tropical Depression Fung-wong brought fresh flooding to parts of Hualien County still recovering from a deadly burst of floodwater in September. Now, as the cleanup gets underway, there are plans to tame the river behind both incidents.

Transcript

00:01Members of the military joined civilians to help clean up after Tropical Depression

00:05Fong Wong.

00:07The storm brought yet more misery to parts of Hualien County hit by a deadly flood in September.

00:13But just like after that disaster, volunteers from across the country have come with shovels

00:17in hand, working to clear away the muck.

00:20I've been here from the city and I've been here and I've been here and I've been here

00:23and I've been here.

00:25If there's one thing the past few months have shown, it's that the Matai An River that

00:34runs through the area is a hazard.

00:37In September, rubble blocked its flow, forming a natural dam that then burst.

00:41The surge of water into nearby residential areas killed 19 people, though several more are

00:46still missing.

00:48And in this week's storm, it flooded twice, damaging the communities around it.

00:53There are plans, though, both to rebuild and to make sure this kind of flooding doesn't

00:57happen again.

00:59Minister Without Portfolio Ji Lian Cheng has been on the scene.

01:03He's promising relief for some affected areas and ordering temporary fixes for infrastructure

01:09the floods destroyed.

01:27Both dikes and dredging the river show promise, too.

01:31Worked on after the September flood may have saved the region from even worse destruction

01:35this week.

01:36And the Water Resources Agency says it will quickly do even more work to keep the river from bursting

01:42its banks.

01:44We will in the next hour, only two weeks will be built to 5 cm.

01:53Another project of another is we are doing a tropical river.

01:56We will in the next two days.

01:58They will be called up once.

01:58Monitors watching the river from above say the danger to nearby residents is receding.

02:03The hope now is that the new projects will be enough to tame the river for good.

02:08Chris Ma and John Van Triest for TaiwanPLUS.

02:14You

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