A 75-year-old woman is warning others to be careful after she was overtaken by a ''rogue wave'' at Tomahawk Beach yesterday afternoon.
Phyllis Shewan who grew up in Tomahawk but now lives in Christchurch, had come to Dunedin to see the Super Rugby playoff match between the Highlanders and the Chiefs tonight.
About two hours before high tide yesterday, she went for a walk on Tomahawk Beach with her 4-year-old dog, Jay.
''Every time I come down here, I walk my doggie along the beach.''
She was walking alongside a woman she had met on the beach when she saw a big wave coming.
''I yelled out to her: 'Oh look, this is extra special', so we ran up the bank, but the bank gave way and I was washed out to sea with my little doggie,'' Mrs Shewan said.
Once she surfaced, she was helped by the woman she had been walking with.
The woman then drove her back to her brother's house in Ocean Grove.
''I had to crawl out on my knees, and she actually pulled me up, and she took my little doggie,'' she said.
''God bless her.
''It was lucky I had the strength in my legs to push myself up ... or I might be out at sea.''
Mrs Shewan was thinking about leaving Dunedin a day earlier to ''go back to Christchurch, where it's safe''.
The incident had been scary, she said.
''I'm no spring chicken''.
Mrs Shewan said in all her years of growing up in and visiting Tomahawk Beach, she had never seen a wave of that size.
Mrs Shewan and Jay are the second people this week to have reported getting surprised by waves in Dunedin in a storm.
Deborah Bush, of Macandrew Bay, was walking with her dog, Ali, on Sunday when the water swamped her and the dog, who is believed drowned.
Mrs Shewan said it was ''absolutely essential that [other people] know about [the danger]'' and thinks there should be signs warning of big rogue waves.
When asked about the incident, a Dunedin City Council spokeswoman said ''there's been a lot of publicity about high seas and we urge people to be careful when walking on beaches''.
''We encourage the person who has contacted [the Otago Daily Times] to contact the DCC directly so we can follow up her concerns.''
