Heavy rains spark crashes

JONATHAN CAMERON/Manawatu Standard

UPSIDE DOWN: The weather-induced crash in Palmerston North.

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A school-bound mother and her two teenage sons hobbled away relatively unharmed after their family wagon was flipped in a crash during a heavy downpour in Palmerston North.

The atrocious weather made life difficult for motorists across Manawatu yesterday, contributing to a number of mostly minor accidents and leading police to issue a heavy rain warning.

The alert went public at the same moment the family, in a silver Toyota Estima, collided with a Nissan Pulsar at the intersection of Chelwood and Shamrock streets about 8.30am.

Police said visibility was poor at the time and the mother appeared to have failed to give way as she drove her sons to Palmerston North Boys' High School.

The Pulsar struck "in the sweet spot in the middle", flipping the Estima one-and-a-half rotations and leaving it resting upside down in the middle of the road.

Paramedics treated the family, who freed themselves from the wreckage, for bumps and bruises.

The other driver, a 19-year-old heading to his fiancee's home down the street, walked away unharmed.

Firefighters were called to clear the street of debris while crash services righted the Estima and towed both cars away.