Woman perched on car

Press, 9 March 1988, Page 1

Woman perched on car

Special correspondent A helicopter rescue team yesterday plucked a Tolaga Bay woman from the roof of a car where she had been perched with her dog for 12 hours to escape floodwaters. The woman, Mrs Babs Crawford, aged in her 60s, then had to hang on the end of a rescue line for 500 metres as the helicopter sought dry ground to land and take her inside.

The rescue took place in atrocious conditions which left experienced helicopter crew members airsick. Mrs Crawford had been 'cut off from emergency services since Monday afternoon. When her house was invaded by the floodwaters she waded to the car shed and climbed on top of the car with her dog.

It was 12 hours before the Gisborne rescue helicopter could drop off a life-saver, John Low, who braved fastmoving waters to find her on her car-top refuge. Mr Low said Mrs Crawford’s weight meant she could just fit into a standard harness alongside another crewman, Mr Roger Davies. “It must have been a hell of a frightening for her at her age. “She didn’t say a word when Roger tried to speak to her in the air, but once we got her on dry ground she was full of praise.” The frightened dog was ferried to safety by Mr Low when the helicopter returned. The team also rescued a family which had sheltered in their attic overnight about 500 metres from Mrs Crawford’s property. In a later rescue the crew ferried 15 people from a house threatened by the flood to the safety of a Civil Defence base at the Tolaga Bay Area School.