Excavation team begins work on Matai’an barrier lake dam
Excavation team begins work on Matai’an barrier lake dam
2026-01-06
The Matai’an River barrier lake that burst in September 2025 flooding Guangfu Township is deep in the mountains with no access roads. After slowly paving a temporary road up the river valley last month, excavation teams have finally arrived at the lake. They’ve now begun to clean and dredge the overflow channel and reduce the size of the dam, allowing the lake to drain and eventually restoring the river to its original flow.
Deep in a mountain valley, excavators move carefully in the fast-flowing Matai’an River. This is the river that flooded Hualien’s Guangfu Township in September 2025 when a barrier lake upstream burst. Now work has finally begun to restore the river to its original flow.
Huang Chium-tse
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency
On December 3, we started working with the excavation team that dealt with the Liwu River barrier lake, hiring them to see if they could slowly make their way up the river.
The Matai’an River barrier lake is deep in the mountains with no access roads, so the excavation team had to slowly work their way up the valley, carving out a temporary path. On December 15 there was a sudden landslide that buried several pieces of machinery, but thankfully all the operators were unharmed. After a challenging journey, the team has finally reached the barrier lake and begun their work.
Huang Chium-tse
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency
They set up a safe operation platform at the top of the dam. We hope that they can excavate the overflow channel, so that the barrier lake, which still has about 300,000 tonnes of water, can flow down the original river channel.
The excavation team will try and lower the dam, drain the barrier lake, and restore the river to its original flow.
Huang Chium-tse
Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency
We originally estimated that the excavation project would take 50 days, but maybe it’ll be faster now that they’ve reached the dam. But the river’s situation up there is worse than we imagined, so we might need to spend a few more days to seriously consider it.
The biggest challenges for the project moving forward are the unstable slope on the river’s left bank and the 200 million cubic meters of soil and sand that remain in the river channel. The team will do their best to expedite the process, restoring the river and eliminating the danger posed by the barrier lake.
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#barrierlake #Matai’anRiver #Guangfu #flood #Hualien #excavation #excavator
馬太鞍溪堰塞湖"引流工程啟動" 施工團隊抵壩頂逐步降挖
2026-01-06
花蓮馬太鞍溪上游堰塞湖潰決造成光復洪災，由於堰塞湖位於深山無路可抵，施工團隊上個月開始沿著馬太鞍溪谷往上游開闢便道，經歷一番波折，終於抵達壩頂，目前已經開始整理溢流口水道，接下來會嘗試逐步降挖壩體，讓堰塞湖水排洩，恢復成原本的河道流況。
深山河谷裡，幾輛怪手一寸寸挪動，一旁滾滾泥水不斷沖刷而下，工程人員緊盯地形、不敢大意。這裡是花蓮光復鄉馬太鞍溪堰塞湖上游，去年造成洪災後，如今終於展開關鍵引流工程。
[[林業及自然保育署花蓮分署長 黃群策]]
“在12月3號的時候，我們跟之前立霧溪燕子口堰塞湖的那個施工團隊合作，委託他們，就看能不能從溪底慢慢的上去”
堰塞湖位在深山，沒有道路，工程團隊只能沿著馬太鞍溪河床，一路推進，沿著溪谷往上游開闢便道，不料15日團隊遇到崩塌，幾輛工程機具瞬間被土石掩埋，所幸操作人員及時跳離，全部平安撤回。經歷一番波折後，施工團隊終於抵達壩頂，開始整理溢流口。
[[林業及自然保育署花蓮分署長 黃群策]]
“那在壩頂已經建立一個安全的作業平台，那我們希望說，能夠在那邊溢流口，能夠降挖，然後讓那個原本現在還有大概30萬頓水量的堰塞湖，能夠回歸原本的河道”
未來施工團隊將會嘗試降挖壩體，引流堰塞湖水，恢復成原本的河道流況。
[[林業及自然保育署花蓮分署長 黃群策]]
“我們原本這個時間的工程預定要50天，但是可能他們現在上到壩頂，可以加快速度，但是因為上面的狀況，就是河道的狀況比我們想象的還艱困，所以我們可能要再花個幾天的時間，來去真正看看”
後續工程，最大的挑戰仍是左岸不穩定邊坡，以及河道內超過2億立方公尺的土砂。相關單位全力搶進，只盼早日完成引流，解除這座堰塞湖危機。
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