Escaping sunken ute ‘worst Christmas’ ever
A woman whose ute was washed down a flooded river says escaping the sunken wreck and walking home barefoot was the ‘‘worst Christmas ever’’.
Lynell Eves and her partner were on their way to Christmas dinner with family when they decided to cross the fast-moving ford on Taylor Pass Rd, south of Blenheim, on Tuesday.
The river had flooded over the rural road after heavy rain, but Eves’ partner underestimated the force of the water, saying ‘‘I’ve been through worse’’, Eves said.
‘‘It was a total misjudgment. The water just overtook us and we went backwards . . . we were at the mercy of the stream. I thought, this is not good,’’ Eves said.
A branch hit the back window and smashed it, and then the ute came to rest partly submerged against a tree about 15 metres downstream, Eves guessed.
‘‘So we climbed out the window. It was very, very scary . . . It was pretty horrifying, clinging onto a tree in water you can’t stand up in.’’
The couple struggled through the water to the side of the river, but the force of the water ripped their jandals off, Eves said.
‘‘I’d started to go into panic mode. The sides of the river were really steep, and I was wearing a dress, and I don’t usually wear a dress,’’ she said.
‘‘I couldn’t get out of the water, the force of the water was holding me down, my partner had to drag me out.’’
They climbed through a blackberry patch, up a hill and then realised they had no cellphone reception to call for help.
‘‘We were walking barefoot for two hours, trying to get cellphone reception, and there were no houses around.
‘‘It was the worst Christmas ever, walking in the rain, and we were reasonably cold from being in the river,’’ Eves said.
‘‘We finally found a house and got help, and came home.’’
Then they learnt the fire brigade, police, a St John ambulance crew and the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter were out looking for them.
‘‘That’s when we heard another vehicle had got stuck,’’ Eves said. ‘‘This other dude whose car washed away, he saw our ute and once he got out he went and told the police he spotted it, while we were walking home and feeling sorry for ourselves.’’
Eves’ purse was still in the ute, but they would have to wait until the water receded before they could fetch it, let alone pull the truck out, she said.
Marlborough highway patrol team leader Sergeant Barrie Greenall said both vehicles were still in the river on Wednesday.
It would be up to the owners to pull them out of the river, Greenall said.
The road had since been closed to traffic until the flooding subsided.