Taipei: 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.
According to Focus Taiwan, in a press release, the WRA stated that the flooding began on Monday evening in an area approximately 2 kilometers upstream of a temporary bridge over Matai’an Creek on Provincial Highway 9. As the area lacked levees, the rising water level overran the creek’s banks, flooding an industrial road, Mingli Village, and a rice seedling center.
The WRA reported that its personnel visited the flooding site early Tuesday to lay tetrapods, a type of wave-dissipating concrete block, in an effort to reroute the floodwater. While Guangfu, which experienced deadly flooding on Sept. 23, is located just to the south of Matai’an Creek, Mingli Village lies about 5 kilometers to its northwest, farther upstream on the north bank of the river. Mingli Village is situated on a 3-km sliver of land between Matai’an Creek in the south and Wanli River in the north, with mountainous terrain rising 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 noted that the agency had assessed the area around Mingli to be safe due to its higher elevation and did not reinforce it with protective levees.
The WRA acknowledged an oversight in failing to appreciate how accumulated silt from the Sept. 23 flood altered the terrain, leading to “not grasping actual conditions” on the ground. Videos circulating online Wednesday showed scenes similar to the recent flooding in Guangfu, with empty cars being swept away by floodwaters and streets covered in mud and debris.
As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, Tropical Storm Fung-Wong was located about 280 kilometers west-southwest of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan’s southernmost tip, and was 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 anticipated 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.