Tales from the flood: Horses to the rescue

Teacher Karen Beaumont has the perfect excuse for not returning the homework of her year nine English class at Central Hawkes Bay College.

The books are drying out on the floor of her home south of Hastings after she was rescued from her floating car by two young men on horses.

She had left home too early to get the phone call saying bad weather had closed school for the day.

Returning home, she drove into what she thought was a shallow stream of water across the road where the Papanui Stream flows into the Tukituki River. As she tried to reverse out, the current picked up her Toyota, spun it round and dumped it in what she thinks was a roadside ditch, cutting the motor and the electrics, locking the doors.

Fortunately Matthew Hawkins and Ross Owers were riding past on their horses planning to shift some cattle.

Mrs Beaumont said yesterday that she felt a "bit panicky" and as she tried to kick open the back door, Matthew, still on his horse, managed to get her to throw him the key so he could unlock the hatch as the water rose up to the windows.

Matthew, 16, said he offered Mrs Beaumont a lift on his horse, but she climbed out, waded through the water and walked about 500m home.

River a swim too far

Two riders who tried to use horses to escape flooding at their home had to be plucked from a tree in the middle of the overflowing Manawatu River at 6 o'clock on Monday night.

A woman in her early 30s and a 10-year-old, believed to be her daughter, had their horses swept from under them near Aokautere, 8km east of Palmerston North, as they tried to cross the silt- and log-laden Manawatu River.

The pair managed to make it to a tree, and hung on to foliage before a helicopter rescue could be mounted to get them off the river. Fire and police had attempted a rescue, but were unable to reach the stricken pair. It is not known why they risked crossing the river or if the horses survived.

The rescue was one of more than 15 missions carried out by the Square Trust rescue helicopter on Monday.

Sparks in the cowshed

Two cows were electrocuted and a sharemilker leaped for safety as the milking shed he was working in was electrified at the height of the storm in southern Hawkes Bay.

The incident happened about 5.15am on Monday at a property in Top Grass Rd, near Dannevirke, when a falling tree draped live power lines over the shed.

The sharemilker, who could not be contacted yesterday, told neighbours, volunteer firemen and Scanpower lines staff that he was trapped in the pit of the shed when the lines came down, and the building went dark.

He said he could not touch anything in the shed, several cows had been stunned, and others were going "ballistic" as he wondered what to do, before getting out.

He apparently managed to kick firewood into a live gate so it would open, letting the other cows out.

Dannevirke Volunteer Fire Brigade member Andrew Donaldson, who also works for Scanpower, said normally the fuses would have "gone", but in this case the shed remained live.

"The guy's lucky he didn't touch any of the rails."