A man has been plucked to safety from raging seas by a female rescuer on New Zealand's Kapiti Coast.
The man now wants to find and thank his rescuer.
Neil Thomas, an artist from Paekakariki, was taking photographs of the high seas today when a surge dragged him in.
"The next thing I remember, I'm sort of under about 12 feet of water," he told TV One News.
"It had washed right up to road level, I just got churned around like in a washing machine."
The woman handed her baby to a bystander and jumped into the sea to rescue Thomas.
"She bodily lifted me up on to the sea wall and she's a hero," he said.
Thomas now wants to find the woman and thank her.
Huge waves battered the North Island's west coast today as a severe storm crossed the country.
Forecasters said a combination of high tides, southwest and northwesterly swells and strong winds had produced huge waves and sea surges.
Knee-deep surface flooding at Paekakariki caused long delays for motorists north of Wellington and a slip caused a train derailment on a Wellington suburban line this evening.