Flooding alert to be downgraded from red to yellow in Guangfu

Flooding alert to be downgraded from red to yellow in Guangfu

2025-10-13

Monday marked the 20th day since the deadly flood that devastated Guangfu. The flooding was caused by a barrier lake that burst up in the mountains, sending a rush of water downstream. Now, only 1.77% of the original water volume remains at the lake. That is about 1.55 million tons of water. Downstream along the Matai’an Creek, the current flow has been deemed to no longer pose a threat. Disaster response officials say they are working on an evacuation plan to downgrade the red alert to yellow. Let’s hear more.

Chi Lian-cheng
Coordinator
The evacuation plan is mostly finalized, but the county government still has some concerns. My goal is to have everything in place this week. Once the necessary conditions are met, we will downgrade the red alert to a yellow alert. The repairs to the embankment are nearly complete, and we are working on reinforcing it. The 2,860-meter embankment has been completed.

Disaster response efforts are now focused on dredging, especially the ditches along Fozu Street. The National Land Administration has also assigned dedicated personnel to clean five underground drainage channels. The goal is to complete all dredging by Wednesday.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

#guangfu #flooding #dredging #lake #current #hualien #disaster

花蓮堰塞湖仍紅色警戒! 中央協調所:撤離計畫初稿完成

2025-10-13

馬太鞍溪堰塞湖溢流重創花蓮，來到災後第20天，目前堰塞湖的水位大約20公尺，水量155萬噸，是原來的1.7%，流量不足以形成威脅，中央災害應變中心前進協調所今(13)天指出，儘速辦理災區撤離計畫，希望讓馬太鞍溪堰塞湖紅色警戒往下調。

[[中央前進協調所總協調官季連成]]
“撤離計畫大致上定案，不過因為縣府仍然有一些疑慮的地方，我目標是這個禮拜，條件大概都達成以後，我們的紅色警戒就會往下調降，調降成黃色警戒。河堤的修築工程已經趨於完整，現在只是在加強他的鞏固中，那這個2860公尺堤防已經完成了。

至於目前清淤的重點，季連成表示在側溝以及佛祖街一帶，國土署也派專責人員負責5條地下水道清淤，預計15日前全面達標，讓排水恢復順暢。

更多新聞內容，請鎖定：
民視台灣台（152頻道）週一至週五晚上9:30
民視新聞台（53頻道）週二至週六凌晨1:00

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The 34-year-old flight attendant Ms. Sun had felt unwell before reporting for duty for a flight to Milan. After a day off in Milan, her conditions worsened on the return flight.

Voice of passenger
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When she stood up to get me earplugs, I noticed that she struggled to stand. She told me that she was sore all over. What’s even more unbelievable was that she was called on to do the last meal service before landing. The cabin crew manager was really unsympathetic to her, I don’t think she even deserves to be the cabin crew manager.

Ms. Sun was sent to hospital for treatment, but sadly passed away after 15 days.

The manager later released a statement saying that she did check in with the whole crew before the return flight, and that Ms. Sun did not ask for medical assistance while in Milan.

Following the incident, EVA Airways says that the company had launched an investigation and that it will provide relevant assistance to Ms. Sun’s family. Meanwhile, the Taoyuan City Office of Labor also probed into the incident. However, discrepancies remain between the cabin crew manager and the team onboard with Ms. Sun.

Chou Sheng-kai
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The Ministry of Labor says interviews will be conducted with other flight attendants on duty to get the whole picture. If there was indeed negligence on behalf of the manager, the company will be fined according to law.

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Video of legislator questioning Ko Wen-je goes viral in China

DPP Legislator Wang Shih-chien is known for his incisive politics and colorful manner of speaking. An old video of him questioning Ko Wen-je recently went viral online, with Wang saying with a melodic tone, “It should have been relaxed and effortless, but now you’re frantic and flopping about.” It’s even made it to Chinese social media, where someone made it into a song called “Good for Nothing.” Wang himself laughed when he saw it and called the videos amazing.

This old video of Legislator Wang Shih-chien questioning Ko Wen-je recently went viral online, even on Chinese social media.

It’s been shared widely on Douyin, RedNote, Threads, and Instagram. It’s a classic clip from when Wang was a Taipei city councilor and Ko was mayor.

Users have remixed the clip in all number of ways, making it into a piano piece or imitating Wang’s mannerisms. People are joking that Wang is a singer whose career was derailed by politics. But does Wang himself know he’s internet famous?

Wang Shih-chien
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The internet really is a miraculous place. There are all kinds of geniuses, talents, and prodigies. So I’m astonished. If Ko Wen-je had listened, it would’ve been to his benefit, as he wouldn’t have gotten involved in the Core Pacific case.

With Wang’s popularity soaring, his former colleague in the city council and ex-legislator Kao Chia-yu is urging him to run for Taipei mayor next year.

Wang Shih-chien
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Thanks to Kao Chia-yu for her idea. I haven’t thought about it at all. Miao Po-ya苗博雅 has her own strengths. Although Enoch Wu doesn’t have experience in the city council, he’s young and willing to learn.

Whether the DPP will nominate Wang for Taipei mayor, enlist Enoch Wu, or work with Miao Po-ya is a matter of keen public interest as the race begins.

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Car washers from Sanchong lend services to Guangfu flooding victims

Apart from needing to rebuild their homes, victims of the flooding disaster in Hualien’s Guangfu Township also have lots of vehicles that need repairing. The exterior as well as interior of countless cars are still filled with gray sludge, clogging every nook and cranny. One business from New Taipei’s Sanchong District went to Guangfu to lend their expertise to restore these vehicles to their state before the flood.

When you open the back door of this car, you can see that the entire floor, from the bottom of the seats to the doorway, is coated in a thick layer of mud. There’s even still a puddle of water. After the floodwaters receded, the so-called “shovel superhero” volunteers who descended on Hualien were also joined by “carwash superheroes.”

-Wow, it’s all mud.
-The regular volunteers can’t even clean it.
-This needs a carwash superhero.

Peiwei A-hsun
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Apart from coming to Guangfu to help clean cars, we’re also helping the other volunteers, because their cars will be very dirty when they go back. Our shop can help with a basic interior and exterior cleaning, free of charge.

Going with flooding victims into their ruined homes, they found vehicles amid the refuse emitting a rancid mildew smell. Using their own tools, these “carwash superheroes” got to work. They run a business in New Taipei’s Sanchong District, but took five days out of their busy schedules to volunteer in Guangfu. The first day, they cleaned the interior of five vehicles with minor water damage.

They had to remove everything inside to clean one by one, including the seats and floor mats. Just a single carpet took two hours to clean, three people to a car. It would usually cost NT$50,000, but flooding victims need only make a phone call and the “carwash superheroes” will be there to help.

Guangfu resident
Those of us living in Guangfu are old folks. If we didn’t have help, we’d be done for.

Peiwei A-hsun
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If the chassis is submerged in mud for a long time or the oil well is clogged, it will remain wet inside while appearing dry. Over time, this will cause internal rusting and damage. So the focus now is to remove the mud that poses a significant driving hazard.

Many homes need to be rebuilt, but there are also vehicles that need fixing. These “carwash superheroes” stressed that they would prioritize disadvantaged households, looking to do their part to help flooding victims weather the storm.

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Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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Taichung Aquarium visitors worry over inactive Magellanic Penguins

Following its recent opening, the new Taichung Aquarium has attracted over 110,000 visitors. Now, in the latest, the aquarium has been caught off guard by complaints that the Magellanic penguins. They are one of the aquarium’s star attractions, but they don’t seem to want to perform for the crowds. Instead, the black-and-white birds are lazing around in their enclosure and don’t seem to have the energy to move. Let’s find out more.

This penguin looks adorable as it floats in the water with its big round belly and its outspread wings. However, Taichung Aquarium has recently received complaints from fans saying the penguins are, well, not looking lively.

- That penguin isn’t moving

- It’s just tired, the way humans get tired. It swam until it got tired.

The Magellanic penguins have become the Taichung Aquarium’s star attractions, but some visitors have noticed them lazily lounging on the artificial shore, completely motionless. The inevitable questions have been: is this a case of poor care from the aquarium or are the penguins simply slacking off?

Lin Chen
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It’s because the penguins are going through their molting period. For penguins, this is a very important stage to go through.

During this molting period, most of the penguins prefer not to be in the water and like to rest on land. This is because their feathers during this period have poor waterproof properties and the penguins also need to consume a lot of energy.

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Penguins can swim in the water thanks to their oily feathers. When they are molting, they will reduce their activity levels so that the energy stored before the molting period can last until the end of the molting period.

There are currently six Magellanic penguins in the aquarium. The number is expected to increase to 18 by the end of the year. The aquarium authorities remind visitors that even if you can’t see these cuties in the water, you can still see them on shore.

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-I thought I would Google the place where I’m working tomorrow.
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Seeing a police car parked outside the house sparked this person’s curiosity. When they looked around the area on Google Street View, they found an even more surprising scene.

-They’re catching ostriches.
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They posted a video of this miraculous Street View scene on Instagram, which quickly went viral.

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Social media exploded with discussion of ostriches on Google Street View. One person even recognized the two flightless birds, saying they had seen them on the news before.

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We came in person to the location, but the ostriches were long gone. It happened that on that day, a street view car drove by and captured the whole scene.

These two ostriches escaped from Changhua in May last year and were chased by a dog all the way to Taichung’s Wuri District. Police and officials from the Agriculture Bureau came to capture the ostriches and take them home. The borough chief was also there, but he didn’t notice the street view car quietly drive past.

Tsai Min-yang
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I’ve seen a street view car on the road before. It has a rotating camera on the roof. I was riding my scooter out of an alley and was also caught on camera by a street view car. You can’t do anything bad, God has eyes everywhere.

There are cameras all around us, from surveillance cameras to dashboard cameras, and even street view cars that drive around capturing everything they see. Maybe next time, someone will find you on Google Maps!

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Xiaoliuqiu is a popular destination for water activities. Long lines for the ferry and on the island itself are a common sight anytime the country is on holiday. This National Day long weekend is no different, but not without an unwanted emergency in between.

Voice of witness
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While entering the harbor, I saw what looked like snorkelers from a boat. They were in the middle of ship traffic, so they were very likely carried there by a rip current to somewhere close to the middle of ship traffic.

The incident was immediately reported.

Voice of witness
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We were pretty close to them when our ship passed by, but other ships about to leave the harbor were even closer. They were waving. It looked like they were asking for help. We called the Coast Guard to avoid an accident.

The Coast Guard’s local Inspection Office immediately stepped in. However, the snorkeling tour operator insisted that all their customers returned safely onboard and no one was taken to the high seas.

Chang Lung-chuan
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We received a report from a member of the public saying that there were snorkelers possibly carried away from the coast line by currents. At the location of the incident, we checked with the tour operator, and they claimed that their customers have all boarded safely.

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