Wellington man ‘dumbstruck’ to find car on fence after flood

By Charlotte Cook of RNZ

A Wellington man says finding his car perched on top of a chest-high fence after Monday’s flash flooding was surreal.

The water left the blue station wagon balanced on the corner of a roughly 1.2m high corrugated iron fence on href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/weather-live-updates-flash-flooding-hits-wellington-more-severe-weather-expected/EC3Y2LD4QRC6HLMIS7KLTC5XIU/" target="_self" rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/weather-live-updates-flash-flooding-hits-wellington-more-severe-weather-expected/EC3Y2LD4QRC6HLMIS7KLTC5XIU/">Emerson St in Berhampore.

On Tuesday morning, the car was still there and others appeared to have been plonked willy-nilly along the street as if they were toys, full of silt and debris.

The waterline on a nearby property indicated the flood had reached a depth of 2m.

The owner of the car on the fence, David Fraser, told RNZ he and his wife saw cars bobbing down the street about 4am on Monday.

He said the water floated their car out of its carport and into the road.

After the water cleared, neighbours told them where it was.

“When we actually got there to see it in the morning we were just absolutely dumbstruck. How did it land there, how did it land almost perfectly,” he said.

David Fraser found his car perched on a fence after flash flooding in Wellington. Photo / RNZ, Mark Papalii

“It was an absolutely crazy night just in general anyway and this kind of topped it off with a dash of surrealism, like some surreal artwork that’s been placed there.

“There was another car actually sort of almost underneath ours so I’m wondering whether it kind of rode up or who knows but that one’s been cleared. Ours is still there.

“And I mean, props to whoever built the fence. The fact that it hasn’t collapsed is just kind of incredible.”

A car carried by floodwaters landed on top of a chest-high fence after Monday's torrential rain in Wellington. Photo / RNZ, Mark Papalii

Fraser said the lower level of his house was flooded but it was lucky that during recent renovations, they learned that the house was on a residual floodplain and its lower level could be used for storage, but not for dwelling spaces.

“It’s bad, but we kind of feel it could have been so much worse,” he said.

Fraser said his neighbour’s house was much worse off with water about 1.2m up the walls and mud and debris throughout.

“They had to get out of their house really quickly,” he said.

“I think they were incredibly lucky to escape without any harm to the family.”

- RNZ