Chest-high floodwater, a dark paddock and 15 trapped horses. That was the scene Tyler Smith says he found at Dillingham Ranch in Waialua after heavy wet season rain hit Oahu’s north shore.

“When I got there, it was definitely something I’ll never forget,” Smith told Hawaii Public Radio. “There’s nobody there. I drive up into a disaster scene that nobody knows about, starting off alone.”

Smith said he had been watching the weather after a government alert and went to the ranch because he did not want to wait to see the water rise higher around the horses.

He told Hawaii Public Radio he arrived in his pickup truck and drove through the paddock gate, but when he opened the door, water started filling the footwell. He mounted the horse he said he was responsible for and rode her out of the paddock.

Smith said neighbors Kelsey and Levi then arrived in a backhoe and helped with the rescue.

He told The Dodo that Levi and his family do a lot to take care of the ranch, and that the backhoe let them move through deeper water.

The group also rescued a nearby woman, Inga, who needed help, and she then helped them with the horse rescue.

They reached another flooded paddock where four of Levi’s horses were gathered on a small area of higher ground. Smith said the horses stayed surprisingly calm once he and Levi arrived with halters, and they led them to a place that was not flooded.

Smith said he walked with the horses about a quarter of a mile and that they stayed mostly calm the whole way.

According to notes from another reporter on the story, the group kept going with “just the backhoe’s muscle, halters, and sheer willpower” until 15 horses were out.

Sumi Sarkar wrote that veterinarians later marveled that all 15 horses came through the flood without injuries.

Smith said that after Levi and Kelsey finished moving the horses, they used the backhoe to help neighbors by pulling out stuck cars and picking up people who had climbed onto the roofs of their houses.