Among the remarkable rescue tales emerging from the weather disaster that has hit New Zealand is one from Alistair Polson who farms in the Mangamahu district, inland from Wanganui.
Polson's brother and a shepherd had gone out to check for stock in a jet-boat which hit a wire in the swollen Mangawhero River and flipped over, spilling them into the flood.
Alistair Polson arrived at his brother's house by helicopter and discovering he was overdue, went looking for him. The two men were rescued from the river using a fence post and rope.
Polson says the Mangamahu Valley, like much of the southern North Island, has suffered huge losses.
He estimates 20,000 stock have perished and kiwifruit and boysenberry crops have been wiped out, along with hundreds of kilometres of fences, tracks and culverts.
