A crash on the Kāpiti Coast caused "carnage" last night as stranded motorists tried to escape the gridlock traffic by driving on to the beach – where the tide was creeping up.
Local man Byrin Malone told Stuff there was a "continuous line" of cars on the beach.
"It was pretty full-on, cars getting stuck in Te Horo and Peka Peka. I just went down there, and I started pulling one person out, and then it was just onto the next, and so on."
The chaos was the result of a fatal two-car crash on State Highway 1 near the intersection of Te Hapua Rd, which closed the road entirely.