• Rai Valley Chief Fire Officer Nigel Patterson rescued his neighbours from rising floodwaters in a rural South Island settlement.
• Patterson and a neighbour secured the car and waited in waist-deep water for the specialist rescue team.
• The flooding happened after an atmospheric river dumped heavy rain in the nearby ranges.

A rural fire chief has described rescuing his own neighbours from rising floodwaters after a trip out took a potentially deadly turn.

Rai Valley Chief Fire Officer Nigel Patterson feared his neighbour could be swept down the swollen river if he tried to pull her from the stranded car.

So he hunkered down in cold, waist-deep water with her and another neighbour until the water rescue team could reach them.

The incident happened in the Nelson area on Friday when an atmospheric river swept through the country, dumping 430mm of rain at Paradise Peak in the ranges south of Tākaka at the top of the South Island.

A woman was rescued from her flooded car on Kokoroa Rd, Whangamoa yesterday. Photo / Fire and Emergency NZ

While rain wasn’t particularly heavy in the settlement of Whangamoa, Patterson believed water coming down from the Richmond Ranges was responsible for the unexpected flooding on Kokoroa Rd.

“My neighbours called me and said that the other neighbours had a car stuck on the road,” he said.

“Both of them had been just going out to get supplies and it just all went wrong for them that day.

“They had basically driven into the water and the car died ... the river was rising and they just got trapped.”

The water was about the height of the car’s front fender at that point, so one of the occupants got out and walked to another neighbour’s property for help.

When Patterson arrived, the water was up to his bellybutton and the male occupant who had been able to get out was beginning to get hypothermic. He was evacuated so he could warm up.

The female occupant had undergone a hip operation only weeks prior and was using a crutch, so Patterson did not want to risk her trying to walk out of the floodwaters.

With the help of the neighbour who called him, he was able to get the car secured to a nearby tree.

The woman was “alright” but getting colder as the water rose higher.

Rai Valley Chief Fire Officer Nigel Patterson rescued his neighbours from floodwaters near Nelson on Friday.

“She was keeping calm, she wasn’t stressing out.”

Patterson was trained for rescues such as these, so was not anxious during the wait for the water rescue team.

“I’m sort of used to situations like that,” he said.

“If I had to do it I would have pulled her out, but there was a bit of a worry that if it turned pear-shaped she’d go into the river.”

About 40 minutes after securing the car, the specialist water rescue team arrived. Members of multiple volunteer fire brigades also showed up to help.

They were able to pull the woman out of the car and into a boat and walk her out of the floodwaters.

By then, the water had risen from the fender to the top of the car’s bonnet.

By the time the rescuers brought the woman to safety the water had risen to the top of her car's bonnet. Photo / Fire and Emergency NZ

Patterson walked out about halfway until his legs cramped up from the cold and he had to be piled into the boat too.

The crew took them back to his home nearby where Patterson made sure his neighbours could have hot showers. The couple stayed with him for several hours until the flooding receded enough for them to return home.

The rescue was a “good outcome” thanks to Fire and Emergency’s intervention he said.

“If it wasn’t for them it might have been a bit different.”

He was also grateful for the help of his neighbour, who first contacted him, called 111, helped him secure the car and stayed with him in the water until the rescue team arrived.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice, and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.