A mother clung to a tree branch for nearly an hour after she was swept away from her car by rising waters in Devon.
Vanessa Glover was with her husband Paul and son when their vehicle became trapped in floodwater near Umberleigh yesterday before she was eventually rescued.
A police helicopter spotted her hanging on to the tree on the banks of the swollen River Taw, in the early hours of the morning.
Her husband and young son were rescued by local firefighters, but Mrs Glover was swept away as she clambered onto the roof of the deluged car for safety.
She managed to cling to a branch of a tree while RNLI volunteers searched for her in a boat.
The woman was found 50 minutes later and dragged to safety by lifeboat crews – apparently unharmed by the ordeal.
Robin Goodlad, RNLI incident commander, said they were ''gobsmacked'' she had survived. He said: "This was a very heroic rescue, there are no two ways about it. The three volunteers were working in complete darkness, in an environment they had never been in before and ideally this should have been a two-boat operation.
"They had a pinpoint light of the police helicopter to locate the woman. Eventually they got the woman into the boat.
"She had been in the water for 50 minutes and the guys are gobsmacked that she is alive. If they had not picked her up in that boat she would have been floating away downstream."
Neil Blackburn, the fire service's group commander, said: "We were called to the scene at 12.37am and the family were stuck in their car about 60 metres into the river so the access for us was the most difficult and dangerous.
"The water was moving very quickly but we managed to rescue the father and son but the woman was still out there and clinging to a bush.
"The search and rescue helicopter from Chivenor was called but time was running out. The RNLI crew with us from Wales took the decision to use their powered boat to get to her. I feared the worst but it was a very professional rescue by the RNLI and they got the woman in time."
