Digger clears blocked culvert to save road during 100 year Nelson Flood

To see a digger that you pulled out of the bush doing something truly heroic like this (instead of merely way cool) has got to be the most rewarding thing ever. You ought to be proud of that machine, that's for darn sure. You're a good fella, Marty.

Marty! Try not to stick around in an area where you see water coming straight out of the side of the mountain like that. You can almost guaranty that the stability above has been compromised and you could get a slide at any time. Stay safe my friend!

Myself, as a professional excavator operator am truly impressed with his skills considering this is early model Hitachi with long stick controls. Very few realize the talent it takes to operate one of these machines. My hat’s off to you sir!

When I heard about all the rain and flooding I wasn’t surprised to see all work you would have to do. Be safe Marty and your family

You earn a well deserved place in the Post10 hall of fame! Stay safe! Thank you for making these videos.

I definitely think the work you put in after the last flood has paid off... glad there's minimal damage to your driveway

post 10 with an excavator

At 1:00 seeing the water pouring out of the ground like that... I don't think I would have stuck around to find out if it would slip. Stay safe, Marty.

Wow that slip! Nice work clearing the culvert there Marty, it has been a sketchy week down here for sure. Our street turned into a river for a few hours but we were lucky to have no damage.

Thanks for the update mate.. we’ve got friends in town who fortunately didn’t need evacuation, we’re unscathed as we live way north, but it’s been a massive downpour that will take years to recover from.. all the best Marty.

Maybe it's childish but i like to think that those machines Marty saves are happy to be rescued and like to go on new adventures with marty when just everyone else abandoned them. Touches my heart just like old rescued animals finding their joy in the last Moments of their lives. Exept most of those machines will probably last longer than i will live. Im 25 btw. Thank you Marty for sharing your adventures with us, bringing Live to machines that served humans for decades and will probably be able to do that for a century. Greetings from Germany!

Thanks for taking the time to film for us Marty. It’d be the last I’d think of when facing some time critical works.

I actually sat there at home on Friday listening to the rain slam down and thought, "I bet Marty's out playing in the rain again"

Great! Another high quality content video! Looks scary though. I hope you and the family is safe. Saving that digger from the forest really paid off.

Amazing! Making your skills for repair of equipment all the more valuable and interesting to watch! ❤️

Thank you Marty for, telling us your situation and sharing the video!Yes, please be safe!!!

I was wondering how you would make it with all the flooding going on. Looks like the last cleanup you did a few months ago helped a lot.

There was I thinking that you'd put all the rocks on the road as you pulled them out of the mouth of the culvert to give it a better surface and I didn't know how bad the mudslide was. I guess its not time to carry out work straight away after a major downpour. Interesting and informative - seeing this side of things does bring it home what life can be like in NZ. Good video.

Love the way you rejuvenate the old abandoned machinery and put it back to work! Awesome job sir!! 👍❤️👍

You're fortunate that you have fixed the machines needed for road work and you live on a mountain of the best road building material! Good luck and thanks for taking the time to make the video.