A pair of volunteer lifeguard's who joined the rescue operations after severe flooding hit rural west Auckland on Tuesday said they didn't realise how serious the situation as until they arrived.
Muriwai's Glenn Gowthorpe and Darrell Watt spoke to Breakfast on Wednesday after being part of a small group of volunteer lifeguards who joined other emergency services in responding to the flooding in Kumeū.
Gowthorpe told Breakfast they joined the cause around 6am but didn't realise initially what was ahead of them.
"We didn't really understand the gravity of the situation," Gowthorpe said.
"Out at Muriwai beach, it had been raining but not as much as it had been in Kumeū so when we arrived on scene to help police and the fire brigade, we quickly realised how serious the situation was when they told us there was an elderly man who had been trapped in a garden shed overnight and the water was rising every minute."
Watt said the man was relieved when they managed to get to him with the use of a lifeguard IRB [inflatable rescue boat].
"He was cold, he was wet, he was tired, he'd been in the water a long time and there was no other way for him to get out except by boat," Watt said.
"He was very, very pleased when we arrived."
Watt added Muriwai contributed two boats to the cause with two lifeguards on each.
"We were to help in any way we could," he said.
"The water out there was pretty challenging and there was a lot debris that we had to be aware of.
"We had to take care of not only the community but ourselves as well."
Breakfast host Indira Stewart praised the lifeguards for jumping into the cause voluntarily given other services were being paid for their efforts but the pair brushed off the thought.
"Volunteers out at Muriwai beach - our aim here is to keep people safe at New Zealand's most dangerous beach," Gowthorpe said.
"So we applied some of the skills."
SHARE ME