Surf Lifesavers rescue trapped emergency crew in floods

Sometimes, even highly-trained rescue teams find themselves in trouble and have to call on their colleagues at partner rescue organisations to lend a helping hand. Luckily our expert surf lifeguards were there to help …

As a storm spread across Tauranga in late January, rescuers raced to save people. But one emergency crew became trapped in dangerously rising floodwaters and had to be rescued themselves.

The road had turned into a river.

An Army Unimog vehicle was crawling along Tauranga’s Waitao Rd as the rain poured down. On board were seven emergency crew from the defence and police forces, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), as well as four people they’d just rescued from a house at risk from rising floodwaters. And a dog, called Zeus. And a cat.

Reaching a slip spreading across the rural road with fallen trees, the Unimog crew veered left to get around it, but suddenly felt the earth under them slip away, sending the vehicle into a culvert.

Stuck on an angle, with water nearly 2m high around them, they knew they were trapped - the rescuers now needing to be rescued.

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Around 4am that day, a police alert had woken members of our Western Bay of Plenty Surf Life Saving Search and Rescue squad, advising them of the stranded Unimog in need of urgent assistance.                                                                                                                                              

Made up of brave volunteers from the Mt Maunganui, Pāpāmoa, Omanu Beach, and Pukehina clubs, team members had been readying themselves and double-checking their gear for a potential callout for more than two days, as they tracked the approaching dangerous weather front.

In the middle of the night, they left the comfort of their own beds, said goodbye to their families and by 4.50am they had rushed to gather their gear and assist those trapped by the flooded road. They were well prepared, with two inflatable rescue boats (IRBs), along with a FENZ specialist water rescue team

The road itself was completely flooded by the nearby stream, according to Surf Lifesaving New Zealand’s Upper North Island Search and Rescue Support Officer, Nick Wagstaff, and the force of the torrential water had ripped up the tarseal.

“It had become a full-blown river, flowing pretty quickly, up to chest-deep in places.”

Using the Surf Lifesaving 4m IRBs powered by 30hp motors, the FENZ rafts to keep them safe, walking and wading in places, the rescue crews gradually made their way 2.4km up the flooded road to where they knew the Unimog was stranded.

You can imagine, in the middle of the night, two IRBs and a couple of rafts travelling upstream, up what used to be a road - it’s quite a sight.

By the time they arrived at the Unimog, it was nearly 6am and dawn had broken.

Everybody was wet and cold, with some verging on hypothermia, including an elderly woman with limited mobility who had been rescued from the floodwaters.

“It was still bucketing down with rain, so there was really no way to stay dry.

Those on board were then hauled in the rafts to the nearest piece of dry land, and a call was made to extract the four people who had originally been rescued, by helicopter, for medical assessment.

“The cat got a helicopter ride, too,” Wagstaff said, while Zeus was handed over to a nearby resident who was a vet.

The others from the Unimog were taken on the IRBs and rafts back down to safety. Wagstaff describes the rescue as “challenging” and admits “it could have been bad”.

“That sort of rescue, in the middle of the night, with floodwaters, it’s complicated.”

He paid tribute to the volunteer Surf Lifesaving rescue team, saying he was proud of them.

The ongoing, rigorous training undertaken by our surf lifeguards provides them with the skillset to save lives beyond between the flags. Your donations help us to keep them trained and rescue-ready.

¨     $450 could go towards training our Surf Lifeguards with the skills they need to save lives at our beaches

¨     $250 could ensure our IRB’s and jet skis are maintained and ready for rescue at a moment’s call.

¨     $75 could put essential communication tools like waterproof radios in the hands of our crew.

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