Pair stuck on car roof in river torrent

The river water reached the bonnet and windscreen of the vehicle. Photo / Thinkstock

A young Hawkes Bay couple spent four hours perched on the roof of their vehicle after an attempt to cross a swollen and fast-flowing river near Napier went dangerously wrong.

The 22-year-old woman and 21-year-old man, both from Napier, tried to drive across a ford in the Makahu River about 8.15pm on Friday when water swamped their Jeep Cherokee, Napier Police Detective Constable Mike Signal said. The water reached the bonnet and windscreen.

"The river was in flood after a number of days of rain, and as they have reached about halfway the force and volume of water flow has lifted the vehicle and spun it so it was facing upstream," he said.

"Luckily the car has been held in place by something on the riverbed there, and not washed completely down the river.

"Water was washing over the front bonnet and bottom level of the windows. If they didn't get wedged where they were they probably wouldn't be here."

Mr Signal said the two, who were on their way to the Mangatutu Springs, managed to scramble on to the vehicle's roof and called emergency services from a mobile phone.

"Once the alarm was raised, police search and rescue contacted two local farmers who went to check on the river fords in the area in an effort to identify where exactly the incident was."

He said they quickly located the pair, and the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter and Taupo Rescue Helicopter were contacted, but were not used due to trees next to the river and an inability to winch at night.

"The local farmers and their families, however, soon overcame the situation by using one of the large tractors with a large trailer and a ladder," Mr Signal said.

The farmers used the ladder to make a bridge from the trailer to the Jeep, and after four cold, wet hours the "very shaken" couple was back on solid ground about midnight, and fire crews on their way to the scene were stood down.

"You would have needed a serious rope system to get out to the vehicle ... so it was lucky the farmers got stuck in and used their initiative to get it all sorted," he said.

The pair did not need medical assistance, but were taken to one of the farmer's homes and given hot showers, dry clothes and "a good cup of tea".

Members of their families travelled from Napier to take the couple home, but not before another group of people also tried to drive across the river.

"It was unbelievable," Mr Signal said. "You could see the 4WD in plain view and when they pulled up the people in this other vehicle were saying they should be right to cross.

"They were told in no uncertain terms to turn back around."

Mr Signal said police wished to remind the public to take care around waterways, and just because rain had stopped did not mean risks had cleared.