Johan: the boy who saved Te Anau

The rain fell like someone was emptying the sky’s biggest bucket. The wind blew in huge gusts, bending and breaking trees, driving the rain into hidden cracks and down chimneys.

On the third day of the storm, the river and lake started overflowing.

Johan, who lives with his sisters Quinn and Melinda and their mum and dad, had been watching the storm– hoping it would clear soon so they could play outside. 

When they ventured out to the supermarket, they could see water was spilling out of the lake and creeping close to the doors of shops and cafes. Some houses had huge ponds where their lawns were. 

Then, the fire station siren went off after a hill and its trees slipped and blocked the main road to Milford Sound.

Johan thought to himself, “I bet Dave the Digger and Dump Truck Dan could help”.

Johan had been using these two to help him build all kinds of cool things at his house for a long time. Their latest project was to clear the sandpit of all sand, digging deep down until there was a hole so deep.

Dad told him it was a health and safety hazard. 

The dirt was used by Mum to make a new raised garden, where she planted tomatoes and lettuces.

His dad decided to go down to the fire station to see if they needed help. Johan wanted to go with him, but his dad thought he might get in the way.

“No, we wouldn’t, we could help dig and clear the road,” said Johan.

His dad thought about it and then said, “Well, come with me and we’ll see what happens. But if I tell you to stay in the car, then you must promise to stay put.” Johan nodded and said “OK.”

As they left, his mum began checking the outside of their house to make sure no water was coming in from the big puddles that were collecting in all the dips of the lawn.

“Wow! Look Dad, the whole street is covered in water. Can we drive through that?” asked Johan.

“I think so, it doesn’t look that deep but we’ll take it slowly.”

His dad drove carefully around branches and rubbish bins that had been blown onto the road. They made their way slowly toward the lake and the centre of town.

They hadn’t got far when they had to stop in front of a big tree which had fallen into the street.

There was a fire engine and four firefighters on the other side, trying to work out how to move it so they could get through.

Dad and Johan got out to see if they could help.

There was a fire engine and four firefighters on the other side, trying to work out how to move it so they could get through.

Dad and Johan got out to see if they could help.

“That’s a really big tree. Looks like we may need a crane or something to shift it,” one of the firefighters told Dad.

Johan looked over at it and whispered to Dave “You think you could lift it?” 

Dave the Digger nodded and, as they walked closer, Dave snapped into his lifting shape. He clumped up to the side of the tree, extended his bucket arm, dug in his feet, and moved his arm under the trunk. 

Dave made it look easy as he lifted the tree up and moved it carefully to the side of the road.

“Wow,” said the senior firefighter. “That was impressive and fast. Do you think you could go over Milford road and offer a hand there too? There’s been a really big slip and the road is blocked. We can’t get the heavy earthmoving gear on to it as they are busy building stop banks along the river to stop it flooding the town. We need to keep that road open for emergency traffic, there’s an ambulance coming through with a patient for the medical centre.”

Dad looked at Dave the Digger and Dump Truck Dan and then turned to Johan, “You reckon you guys can clear such a big slip on your own?” Everyone nodded and Johan said “We’ll do our best.”