Ponies on New Zealand’s North Island escaped from severe flooding following heavy rain on Wednesday (March 8), amateur video shows.
According to local broadcaster TVNZ, severe weather warnings are in place for several parts of the upper North Island, including Auckland.
Josephine Elworthy, who works at Hololio Polo Club in Auckland’s town of Clevedon, attempted to gather the club’s ponies to safe, higher ground on Wednesday morning.
In Elworthy’s video, ponies could be seen coming to a stop as they moved through flood water as high as their stomachs.
The ponies were not confident at first, Elworthy explained to Reuters on the phone.
After a few seconds of observation, the ponies started to brave the water and safely came ashore in the end, the video shows.
All of the club’s horses were safe, but some livestock in the neighborhood has been lost, Elworthy added.
According to TVNZ, heavy rain is predicted from midday Thursday (March 9) to Friday (March 10) night in the Coromandel Peninsula, which is also located on North Island.
(Reuters)