Heavy wind chill and wet clothing caused hypothermia for the woman who likely would not have survived in the open.
She was swept away to an island in the flooded Hawdon river flat 300 metres from her partner who was swept to shore.
The MEOSAR system is “still in testing, but it gave us an alert probably an hour earlier than the old system.”
The rescue helicopter was on scene within an hour in turbulent weather conditions.
Read more here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11785136