A Canterbury farmer has spoken about his amazing tale of survival after driving his quad bike off a washed out road in yesterday's floods.
David Blair was out trying to clear debris in order to stop his home flooding shortly before sunrise on Monday morning.
He was driving down Pit Rd in Peel Forest when the road suddenly disappeared in front of him, overrun by the Orari River.
"I was lucky that the bike was actually going forwards when I went over, because if I was going back the bike would've landed on me and God knows it could've knocked me out," Blair recounted to 1 NEWS from the scene of his ordeal.
"I was able to grab on to a fence and hold on to it for grim life so as not to get drowned with the amount of gear that I had on which was lagging me down."
Blair then stripped off to just his underpants and a motorbike jacket in a bid to lose weight.
However, the raging floodwaters had other ideas, "my underpants went flying off" Blair laughed.
His hands and feet eventually went numb and he was washed further down river, luckily ending up at a spot where he could touch the bottom and scramble to safety up a bank.
Blair joked how he didn't want to get rescued by a helicopter while half naked. He walked home and enjoyed a hot shower.
When reflecting on his lucky escape, Blair said shock set in, before adding, "I'm fine now, and I've got my appetite back, I love my food."
He hopes to retrieve his sodden quad bike once it's safe to do so.
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