Rescued: Construction site manager caught in floodwaters found alive

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) A construction site manager who was washed away by rising waters in Hualien County's Matai'an Creek while driving a Jeep on Monday afternoon was rescued early Tuesday morning, according to local fire officials.

The manager, surnamed Teng (鄧), was conscious but weak when reached by rescuers at 4:39 a.m. Tuesday, said Ke Wei-chih (葛偉治), chief of the second brigade of the Hualien County Fire Department's Guangfu Branch.

Teng was then transported to Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital for treatment, Ke said.

Teng was part of a contracting company working on a sediment control dam downstream of the Matai'an Creek barrier lake, according to Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency Hualien Branch Director Huang Chun-tse (黃群策).

The work is part of a wider project to rebuild the area after an overflow of the barrier lake on the upstream section of Matai'an Creek on Sept. 23, 2025.

Floodwaters and mud swept into Guangfu Township, leaving 19 and five missing and burying the eastern part of the town in mounds of sediment.

Although construction had been suspended and equipment moved to higher ground after the Central Weather Administration issued heavy rain advisories, Teng and two excavator operators went to the site Monday morning to relocate five excavators to even higher ground, Huang said.

Intense rainfall caused the creek's water level to suddenly surge, however, and after the third excavator had been moved, one of the operators noticed that Teng had not followed in his Jeep and that access to the construction site had been cut off by floodwaters.

The incident was reported to the fire department at around 1 p.m., prompting the deployment of nine search-and-rescue personnel as well as members of the contracting company.

Rescuers later found Teng's Jeep about 500 meters downstream from the site, but were initially unable to reach it because of strong currents.

After water levels subsided slightly around 6 p.m., rescue personnel used an excavator to ford the creek and reach the vehicle. A search of the Jeep confirmed that no one was inside, leading rescuers to believe Teng had either escaped the vehicle or been swept away.

At 9:21 p.m., the fire department received a report of someone calling for help farther downstream. Rescuers were dispatched to the area and later located Teng on a sandbar using a drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera.

Rescue personnel and local residents then worked together to wade through the creek and bring Teng to safety, Ke said.