UPDATE: Couple’s ‘frightening’ ordeal being stranded on car roof in Partridge Green flood

A couple in their 60s were rescued from the roof of their car by firefighters after becoming stranded in Lox Lane shortly after 8pm yesterday (Thursday January 8).

Incident commander Alan Huntley said: “They were Mexican and were over visiting family. They were in a hire car and didn’t know the road.

“They weren’t far from where they were staying. They rang their family on their mobile, who rang fire.”

He said they were about 100ft from dry ground and the service’s specialist technical rescue unit officers helped the pair to safety using an inflatable rescue pathway.

Mr Huntley said: “They were very anxious. It wasn’t particularly fast flowing, but there was a current to it.

“We got a couple of guys in the water with the raft we have. We took them to the east end of Lock Lane where we handed them over to their relatives.

“They did asked us to recover the car, but it had gone anyway.

“When we got there the water was up to thigh level for our guys.

“They were noticing it rising while we were there. It was about three foot. Once it started to flow, it’s really powerful. It was quite frightening for them being stuck in their car and being in a foreign country.

“The local area crew knew that road and they knew that there was a ford there.

“We could see their car and saw the lights. We managed to get their mobile numbers from the family so we could let the know we were there.

“Once we were there we had rescued them in 10 minutes.”

The Horsham district was battered by heavy rain on Wednesday night and Thursday morning with several roads either closed or impassable due to flooding.

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