Azernews.Az

At least 17 people were killed when a decades-old barrier lake burst in Taiwan, government officials said Wednesday, after Super Typhoon Ragasa pounded the island with torrential rain, Azernews reports.

The lake in eastern Hualien county -- formed by series of landslides that created a natural dam wall -- burst Tuesday, washing away a bridge and sweeping into a town with a trail of thick sludge and mud.

"It was like a volcano erupting.... the muddy floodwaters came roaring straight into the first floor of my house," Hsu Cheng-hsiung, 55, a neighbourhood leader of Guangfu township, told AFP.

The death toll in Hualien rose to 17 from 14, while the number of missing fell from 152 to 17 as most people have been located, the National Fire Agency said.

"Seventeen people remain missing after the Mataian Creek barrier lake burst. We must... seize the time for rescue," interior minister Liu Shyh-fang said at a government briefing.

A Guangfu village resident rides his scooter past a damaged car, swept away by floodwaters, in Hualien on Wednesday. AFP
She said the government continued to monitor the barrier lake even though rainfall was expected to ease from Wednesday evening.

The water level of the lake had fallen by 75 percent, the semi-official Central News Agency reported, citing the government.

In Guangfu town, the streets were caked in thick grey mud after the flood hit, with fallen trees blocking the way, an AFP journalist saw.

Wrecked cars and scooters lay by the roadside or piled on top of each other by the flood waters, and some metal gates and roofs of homes were destroyed, with furniture scattered along the streets.

Residents said the mud was too much to clear by themselves with more help for the cleanup expected Thursday.