Michael Brimmer sent these pictures to mynews@timesofmalta.com showing dramatic scenes at one of the exits of the Sta Venera tunnels yesterday, where cars were swamped by the flood waters and a woman was dragged away and needed to be rescued. She was later hospitalised.

Etienne Aquilina wrote the following after seeing the pictures:

"As shown in the pictures posted on your site, the man being rescued is my brother-in-law who, together with the woman mentioned in the news were carried away with the current into the service tunnel.

"The white Renault Megane pictured is his.

"Everything happened as he was driving out of the tunnel and hit stone debris at which point his car stalled and water started gushing into his car. The car filled with water in seconds and the electronics went bust and he could not even open the electric windows.

"Eventually he opened the door with successive kicks.

"At that point they both crossed the road and tried climbing the wall for safety at which point the boundary wall gave way and both of them ended up one storey below in the service tunnel fighting for their lives with water up their throats.

"Due to the amount of foul water swallowed, he lost consciousness but, thank God woke up shortly after and threw up. Having regained his strength, he grabbed a water drain pipe in total darkness and painstakingly pulled himself through until he literally saw light at the end of the tunnel; at which point the passers by with the help of a lifting crane and wooden pellet rescued them from down below.

"Both of them were then taken to hospital and kept for observation and discharged earlier on during the day today."