Gym bros, monks, retirees: thousands descend on Taiwan town to clean up after devastating flood

"They arrived by train, car and motorbike, in boots and bucket hats and carrying shovels. Students, monks, and retirees. Gym bros, migrant workers, mums and dads with their children, even tourists. As a crowd of hundreds disembarks from the train a crowd of people cheer jiayou, a chant of encouragement which translates to add oil. Dubbed the shovel supermen, they have come to Guangfu in their tens of thousands, as volunteers ready to help"

"Less than a week earlier, disaster had struck this small town in Hualien, a picturesque county on Taiwan's east coast that has long been a magnet for tourists. The outer bands of 2025's strongest typhoon, Ragasa, dumped torrential rain on the region, and on Tuesday afternoon it burst a precarious barrier lake in the Matai'an river. The lake, formed by a landslide in July, had been under constant monitoring and authorities had expected it would overflow, but it exceeded expectations."

"More than 15.4m tonnes of water came down, blasting a tsunami of thick sludge into Guangfu. At least 18 people died. Cars piled up in the town of Guangfu. The destruction is worse closer to the Matai'an river. Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Guardian Dirt and debris is piled high in the streets, as people empty out ground floor dwellings. Destroyed cars are piled in corners, and the high school sportsfield lies underneath a metre of mud."

Typhoon Ragasa's outer bands dumped torrential rain, causing a monitored barrier lake on the Matai'an river to burst after a July landslide formed the lake. More than 15.4m tonnes of water, mud and silt surged into Guangfu, Hualien, burying houses up to their roofs, covering the high school sports field with a metre of mud, piling cars in streets and killing at least 18 people. Tens of thousands of volunteers traveled to Guangfu, armed with shovels and buckets, chanting jiayou, to help clear sludge and debris. A week later search-and-rescue operations diminished, but thick, odorous sludge and drying mud dust remained.

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