Hualien: Hualien County’s Taroko National Park remains closed to the public as excavation work on a roadside barrier lake continues, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA) said on Tuesday. The risk posed by the landslide dam on the Liwu River led to the evacuation of over 900 residents and the closures of Taroko Park and part of Provincial Highway No. 8 on Oct. 17.

According to Focus Taiwan, after Monday night’s rainfall, the barrier lake’s water level rose from 4.8 meters below the top of the dam the previous day to 2.94 meters below. Huang Chun-tse, head of FANCA’s Hualien Office, explained that current operations focus on clearing out operation space for workers to evacuate to in case flooding endangers workers and the machinery.

Huang stated that the ultimate goal is to dig down 10 meters of the dam’s upper edge so that it is lower than the highway to reduce the dam body’s threat. Due to rocks continuously falling during excavation, operations are broken up in stages, and it remains unclear when they will be completed.

Meanwhile, heavy rain advisories are in effect from Tuesday morning through early Wednesday morning, as issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Torrential rain advisories, warning of rainfall exceeding 350 millimeters in 24 hours or over 200 mm in three hours, were issued for Keelung City and mountainous areas of Taipei, New Taipei, and Yilan County.

Extremely heavy rains that exceed over 200 mm in 24 hours or over 100 mm in three hours are forecast for Taipei, New Taipei, Yilan County, and mountainous areas in Taoyuan and Hsinchu County. In Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, and Hualien County, the CWA issued heavy rain advisories warning of rainfall exceeding 80 mm within 24 hours or over 40 mm of rain in one hour.

CWA forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping noted that the rain will be heaviest on Tuesday and Wednesday, but continued precipitation may persist into Friday or Saturday.