Surf lifeguards rescued 79 people from flooding in Auckland overnight and assisted many more to safety, including a man who was heard screaming for help in his car as it started to float.
People found themselves in strife across the city as floodwaters engulfed their cars, homes and workplaces.
Surf Life Saving Northern Region chief executive Matt Williams said as many as 69 people were rescued from workplaces along Target Rd in Wairau Valley between 8.30pm and 10pm alone.
Mairangi Bay lifeguards used inflatable rescue boats to ferry groups of people to safety from several shops in the area.
The team was then alerted to a search for a missing person near Sunnynook Bus Station who was last seen on a kayak, Williams said.
The kayak was found, but not the missing person and the lifeguards were stood down for the evening.
A further six people were rescued from rapidly rising floodwaters on Ararimu Valley Rd in Helensville by lifeguards from the Muriwai search and rescue squad.
“A family of five, including a very young child, were rescued through a window of their property and transported by two inflatable rescue boats to safety,” Williams said.
“Lifeguards then returned to a second property on the road where an 80-year-old woman was rescued from the second story of her house.”
Rescuers were level with the roof of the first floor when they pulled up in an inflatable rescue boat and found the woman in waist-deep water.
Surf lifeguards rescued 79 people from floodwaters in Auckland overnight. Photo / Surf Life Saving Northern Region
Williams said another group of lifeguards who were heading home at midnight were flagged down by a group trapped by floodwaters on a high point on Factory Rd in Waimauku.
“They were informed that a man was screaming for help in his vehicle, which had started to float in the floodwater. The man made it out of the vehicle, and a lifeguard responded with a rescue tube and helped him back to a point of safety.”
The man was given first aid because he was beginning to get hypothermic.
The lifeguards then responded to another vehicle which had hit floodwaters at speed and became stuck in neck-deep water. A man and his two dogs were brought to safety with a rescue tube.
Another vehicle did the same thing and the sole occupant was also rescued by lifeguards, Williams said.
After a few hours, the flooding had subsided and the lifeguards helped 10 people off the high point on the road to safety.
Lifeguards from the Bethells squad were first on the scene to help those stuck at Tram Valley Rd in Swanson about 4.30pm, Williams said.