Lucky escape for man rescued by helicopter as water floods around him on Canterbury farm

A farmer has been winched to safety by a helicopter amid rising floodwaters in Canterbury today.

In a video captured of the rescue, the man can be seen clinging to a lone tree as water floods around him.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand's Charlie Kelland told 1 NEWS the water was "too swift for us and for a jet boat." He said fire services had tried using a rescue helicopter earlier but they "couldn't get through because of the weather."

"Luckily, one of the local operators of the helicopters were able to get in there and using a winch and a swimmer has dropped in and been able to extricate the guy from the tree so it's been a really delicate rescue, very lucky," he said. 

"It's been a really good outcome for everybody and well done to the chopper crew."

Kelland said similar incidents are expected, with the weather "predicted to get worse before it gets better." 

Police Sergeant Peter van den Dorpe told 1 NEWS the incident is the second of two water rescues today. 

“Both occasions appears to be farmers that have been checking stock who have found themselves isolated in the river that’s burst its bank or have been swept by the water,” van den Dorpe said. 

“It’s tied up a lot of resource, there’s guys here who have put themselves in a lot of risk to rescue these guys and it’s actually a bit disappointing given the amount of forewarning everyone was given with the weather that was coming and people are actually putting themselves in this position with the river.”

“Very lucky to get them both out and potentially, it could have been a lot worse.”

He urged people to stay away from the water. 

“There’s a lot of risk and people who are potentially going to have to try and rescue you are at risk as well.”

Police say they are dealing with a number of callouts in South Canterbury after heavy flooding in the area and are urging everyone in the affected areas to stay home, hunker down and wait for the weather to pass. 

A State of Emergency has been declared in Ashburton and Civil Defence has been on high alert since yesterday, with heavy rainfall and "significant flooding" expected to hit the region this weekend.