Tourists rescued from flooded car as wild weather hits North Island

Wednesday, 6 September 2017

Keyhan Kaveh and Sahand Seifollahi woke to find the car they'd slept in for the night flooded.

Sahand Seifollahi woke to a cold feeling.

He moved his feet up and heard a splash and thought he must have spilt something in the night.

Keyhan Kaveh and Sahand Seifollahi have a story to tell when they head back to the States.

But when he looked down all he saw was brown river water in the car.

The 21-year-old turned to his friend Keyhan Kaveh, 28, and said 'the car is in water'.

Firefighters rescue the tourists from their half-submerged vehicle.

**READ MORE:

* Live: Storm hits the North Island

Flood waters spill over the road in the Waitomo district.

* Lightning strikes homes in Kohekohe, storm traps two in car in Waitomo**

The American tourists woke to the floodwaters lapping at their knees after a stormy night which brought rain and 700 lightning strikes to the Waikato.

And it's not over yet.

Metservice meteorologists say we could be in for another lightning show overnight Wednesday as further thunderstorms and the chance of small tornados.

An 'unprecedented' rain event burst river banks overnight Tuesday catching the tourists napping.

Seifollahi is over from California visiting fellow Californian Kaveh, who is on an exchange at Massey University in Palmerston North for a semester.

The friends arrived at Ruakuri Caves and Bush Scenic Reserve on Tuesday night to see the glow worms.

'I knew you could see them really well on the sides of the bushes at night,' Kaveh said.

'After we did the whole trail, it was raining really hard and a lot of lightening so we thought maybe it would be safer to stay until the rain calms down.'

The pair hunkered down in their silver Mazda MPV and fell asleep.

At 6.15am on Wednesday Seifollahi woke to his feet getting wet .

At this point the water was up to the steering wheel and Seifollahi woke Kaveh in a panic.

'My first thought was to grab all of our electronics. The water was stagnant and dirty and at eye level in the way that we were sitting in the car.

'We looked out the window and were looking directly at the water, but the water in the car was lower to the water outside.

'For a second I opened the door and more rushed in, so we just thought we've got to wait, there's nothing we can do.'

Then the pair dialled 111.

'We just climbed up as high as we could get in the car and found what ever valuables we had.'

The fire department arrived 10 minutes later, although it felt like forever, Seifollahi said.

Following the instructions of the fire service, the men passed their gear out and climbed out the window of their vehicle.

We walked through water up to our waist for about 80 metres, until it was dry, Seifollahi said.

The towing company came soon after and pulled the car out.

'We were just so shocked,' Seifollahi said.

'We both just sat there for a couple of minutes in silence.'

Kaveh lost his phone and the men had to throw away food and a pan, but everything else they managed to save - it's all just a little soggy.

Kaveh's car is now at Benefield Carrier and Towing and the boys are busing back down to Palmerston North.

'We'll do some laundry and just settle for a couple of days,' Kaveh said.

'I'm still in a bit of shock.'

'But, we've got to look on the bright side - it could have been a lot worse.'

Te Kuiti Fire Chief Phil New said carpark where the water was about a metre deep across the carpark where the men were parked and they had to wade across the carpark to get them out.

They walked with them back out to the top where they waited with police for a tow truck to arrive.

Adam Benefield, of Te Kuiti-based Benefield Towing, said his father Geoff waded through the waters to attach a tow rope to the car and pulled it from the submerged waters.

Preliminary rainfall measurements show that about 45mm fell in three to four hours early Wednesday in the Waitomo area, Waitomo District Council reported.

Heavy rain meant rivers around the Te Kuiti and Otorohanga district had risen rapidly, overflowing onto some roads.

'We have had an unprecedented rainfall event during the night.'

'The Mangaokewa River level rose rapidly during this time from 48.85 meters to 51.25 meters,' the council said on its Facebook page.

700 lightning strikes

MetService meteorologist Tui McInnes said it was an exciting night for lightning strikes across the country.

A total of 9500 lightning strikes were recorded nationwide, most over the ocean, but 1500 of them struck over land, he said.

In the Waitomo and Waikato region 700 bouts of lightning struck the ground.

'Some people may feel like they saw a lot more and we do get a lot of cloud to cloud lightning that is more frequent than cloud to ground, but it's very difficult to give numbers for those.

'People may have woken to a bit of a light show over their house.'

McInnes said the active cells of lightning swept south-east from Te Kuiti to Tokoroa, losing the energy as it tracked over land.

'There were a few more mid-way between Manukau harbour and north Waikato where people would have woken to a few booms.'

McInnes said further thunderstorms were expected overnight on Wednesday in the southern Waikato and Waitomo areas down to Taranaki.

'It's looking like there's going to be some good thunderstorms before dawn and that will continue down the west coast.

'We might get a few more sparks tonight.'

He said there was a low risk of associated small tornados before dawn accompanying the thunderstorms, possibly in the Taranaki area.

In the Waitomo district on Wednesday, heavy rain had left slips on some roads including Manganui, Mangatoa, Mairoa, Oparure, Walker, Ahoroa, Te Anga, Marokopa roads.

Areas of Tumutumu, Aria and Marokopa roads are flooded and there are rocks and debris on Mary St and Troopers Rd, council said.

Waikato police Senior Sergeant Dave Raffan said a section of Otewa Rd in Otorohanga had come under water after the nearby Waipa River was flooded.