TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The water surface of Jiaming Lake, which is completely fed by rainwater, has shrunk by more than 40% due to drought (March 14).

"It's become a doughnut again," said mountain guide Chiu Yen-hong (邱彥紘), CNA reported. It hasn’t rained on the mountain for quite a while, and now Jiaming Lake has become much "thinner." In his words, it looks just like a donut or poached egg, though still beautiful.

(YouTube, 嘉明湖熊出沒戶外旅遊 video)

In addition to Jiaming Lake becoming smaller, the Jiaming Lake mountain house is also short of water. At present, water at the house is provided only for cooking and drinking and not for brushing teeth, washing, or other uses, CNA reported.

Taitung Forest District Office official Lin Mung-yi (林孟怡) said that there are two mountain houses along the Jiaming Lake trail: the Xiangyang and Jiaming Lake mountain houses. The Xiangyang mountain house uses stream water, so water is not in short supply, whereas the Jiaming Lake mountain house completely relies on rainwater. He suggested that hikers carry water from the Xiangyang mountain house to the Jiaming Lake mountain house to be used there, per CNA.

Chiu also reminded people heading to Jiaming Lake to prepare warm clothes as the temperatures in the mountainous area were still very low on Tuesday.

Jiaming Lake is 3,310 meters above sea level. When it is full, the lake is about 120 meters long, 80 meters wide, and 35 meters deep. Hikers call it the "tears of angels," and the Bunun people call it the "glasses of the moon."

(Facebook, 嘉明湖熊出沒企業社 photos)