A rescuer scans the raging waters of the Iao for a missing woman on Saturday. Gary Kubota/The Maui News

The search for a 71-year-old woman who was swept away in a flooded river in Wailuku during a heavy storm Saturday has been suspended.

Maui resident Leland Hindle said the woman who was swept away was his girlfriend. He said she was a Korean immigrant who had been living at an encampment near Waiehu Beach Road and Iao Stream since last fall.

The woman reportedly went down to the river to fetch water before noon Saturday. Hindle said that, according to another camper, his girlfriend dipped a bucket into the river and was pulled into the fast-moving water.

Authorities searched for her on the ground and with jet skis, helicopters and drones. Assistance was provided by the U.S. Coast Guard and Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, but the search was hampered by muddy water, high river flows, poor ocean conditions and heavy rainfall.

Hindle said that since the back-to-back kona storms started, floodwaters have eroded at least 50 feet of the embankment near the camp.

Hindle is an Army veteran who has undergone multiple surgeries, including a heart valve replacement. He said he had hoped he and and his girlfriend might travel together after he receives money from the sale of a family property.

He also said he is going to miss her a lot.

“There was a goodness in her,” he said.

Maui resident Leland Hindle said the 71-year-old woman who was swept away Saturday while fetching water from the Iao Stream was his girlfriend. Gary Kubota/The Maui News