{"id":390851,"date":"2026-04-21T18:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/390851\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:52:11","slug":"brothers-smash-window-with-dumbbell-to-escape-flooded-wellington-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/390851\/","title":{"rendered":"Brothers smash window with dumbbell to escape flooded Wellington house"},"content":{"rendered":"

A relieved Wellington family are reflecting on their fortunate escape from their flooded house thanks to quick-thinking neighbours \u2013 and a trusty dumbbell.<\/p>\n

Around 3am, Harry and Walmer Polania were asleep when their father, who was visiting, felt water and ran upstairs to raise the alarm.<\/p>\n

“It was kind of terrifying in that moment,” Harry told 1News.<\/p>\n

Record-breaking torrential rain, 77mm in an hour, brought significant flooding across several Wellington suburbs in the early hours of Monday morning, including Harry and Walmer’s flat in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

The brothers said they initially scrambled to salvage their belongings as the water continued to rise.<\/p>\n

“It was too late ’cause all of the stuff was already wet,” Walmer said.<\/p>\n

“We couldn\u2019t open the door,” Harry said. “We had to find another way to get out.”<\/p>\n

The pair had moved into the house just two months ago \u2013 their first time flatting.<\/p>\n

The men went back upstairs, with Harry on the phone to police as Walmer broke a bedroom window with a dumbbell.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The dumbbell the Polania brothers used to escape their flooded Wellington home. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The brothers then began screaming \u2013 with “life savers” Brendan West and his wife responding to the call for help.<\/p>\n

‘They were panicking’<\/p>\n

\"'Life<\/p>\n

‘Life saver’ Brendan West. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

West said he and his wife were unable to sleep due to the rain when they heard the “pop” of a window being smashed, followed by screams coming from across the fence.<\/p>\n

“We came out the back door and one of these fellows was poking his face over the top, calling for help,” West said.<\/p>\n

“They were trapped between the house and this pretty tall fence.”<\/p>\n

While the couple “weren\u2019t quite sure what to do or how bad it was”, they quickly formed a plan.<\/p>\n

“From there, it was kind of automatic.”<\/p>\n

With Harry too distressed to articulate to police what was happening, West took over the call.<\/p>\n

West said he then told the family and another household next door to climb along a raised area below the fence through to the roof of their garage.<\/p>\n

“We got them across and got them inside,” West explained, “got them warmed up, got food in them… A couple got stranded who were in this floodwater so we pulled them out as well.<\/p>\n

“We were up for a long time but we were glad to be able to help our neighbours.”<\/p>\n

West said he was “really proud” of their actions, adding that his wife “started up a chain gang of hot Milo and dry clothes and whatnot”.<\/p>\n

“It was the fault of the drain at the back \u2013 we need it cleared,” he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Walmer said “basically everything is gone \u2013 from the living room, kitchen and bathroom. Even the laundry.”<\/p>\n

They were unable to save their TV and PlayStation but Harry said he was “so grateful we\u2019re still alive”.<\/p>\n

“We didn\u2019t know what to do but we feel so grateful we could get out.”<\/p>\n

The Polanias are now looking for a new place to live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A relieved Wellington family are reflecting on their fortunate escape from their flooded house thanks to quick-thinking neighbours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39,52],"class_list":["post-390851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}