At least 14 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.

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 was revised down to 14 from 17 after duplicate cases were rechecked, and the Hualien County government was still trying to confirm the number missing after rechecking reports, authorities said la

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