Flood rescuer: 'I was not going to let a woman die'

A former mountain rescue volunteer has described saving a woman from drowning after her car went into floodwater during Storm Bert.

Dr Leslie Spiers, 76, from Fifehead St Quinton, North Dorset, said he was at home on Saturday at about 23:00 when saw headlights outside.

He looked out his window and realised a car had driven into the River Devilish, with the driver floating inside.

"I jumped over the flood defences that we had on the house and waded out chest high," he told BBC Radio Solent.

"The small River Devilish, which is a very benign 3m-wide stream, had swollen with probably 8ft of additional water coming down the hill - the road was completely impassable."

Dr Spiers said he thought the driver had stopped to reverse, but then he saw the car move, and "there was huge bow wave within 10m of her entering the water".

"I noticed that the rear lamps were oscillating and recognised that she was actually floating in the car," he said.

'Impossible to stand

"The woman was trying to get out of the car, and her front windows were electrically driven, and they weren't working.

"But the two rear windows had manual winders, and she was able to get out.

"By which time the car was wedged under a bridge, so she would have either drowned in the car or have been swept away.

"I could hear her screaming and saying 'help me i'm going to die'.

"I waded across the river and I could feel the undertow, it was almost impossible to stand up."

Dr Spiers said he was not worried about his own well being and "it never entered my mind" not to help.

He said: "There was a woman that was going to die and I was not going to let that happen. It's as simple as that."

"The moment that I grabbed a hold of her and she knew she was safe - she was just weeping and saying thank you."