Woman rescued after spending night on car roof in freezing water
A 62-year-old woman was rescued after spending the night clinging to the roof of her submerged car in Monmouth.
The driver, who hasn’t been named, is thought to have endured 12 hours in waist-high, bitterly cold flood water in Whitebrook after the area was hit by unprecedented downpours, causing rivers to burst their banks.
Luckily though she was spotted at daybreak on Monday by three local men who sprang into action and plunged into the icy floods to save her.
Mark Smith, 51, was the first to risk his own life in order to pull her to safety.
“I didn’t really think. I just knew I had to get her out,” he said.
He and the other rescuers – Geoff Handley, 63, and his son Adam, 21 – played down their bravery, describing it as just “human nature”.
Geoff described to The Mirror how he originally saw the woman while out walking his dog.
He said: “I shouted, ‘Are you all right?’ and she simply said ‘No, help me, please save me’. The water was flowing fast and I knew even if I got out to her we both could get washed away.”
He called for help and passer-by Mark answered, stripping off his shirt and wading in.
“When I saw the woman I didn’t really think, I just knew I had to get out to her, “said Mark.
“When I got out to the car and gave her my coat I just hugged her and talked to her to make sure she was OK.
“But she was in a bad way, slipping in and out of consciousness. It was then, sat on top of the car, in the fast-flowing water, I thought this should actually be terrifying, we could be swept away. I suppose the adrenaline kicks in and you get on with it.”
Mark, an oil company worker from nearby Coleford, took it in turns with Geoff to swim to and from the car to keep the woman warm.
Engineer Geoff said: “How she survived is beyond me, she is a very strong lady.”
Worried about his dad’s whereabouts, Adam arrived and got stuck in too. The trio then swam her downriver to a woodland clearing and on to the bank.
By this point they had reached the fire brigade - but had to wait an hour while a boat was despatched. Geoff said: “We were cuddling her to keep her warm and then finally some firemen made it through the woods.”
The woman, thought to have been in the area on business, climbed on to her roof after driving into the flooded area and getting stuck with no phone signal.
She was taken to hospital suffering with hypothermia but should fully recover.