Christchurch, Sept 6 NZPA - A local truckie did his bit to help in the clean up effort in the quake-ravaged Kaiapoi district today when he stopped to help rescue a tractor in flooded farmland.

Richard Hawken, of Mackeys Carriers, was delivering railway parts to repair the Kaiapoi line, when he came across the sinking tractor on a swamped property.

The tractor was being used to try to prevent rising water leaking into a house, when it was sucked down into the paddock.

The property's owners flagged down Mr Hawken, who chained the tractor to his truck and lifted it back out to safety.

"It's always good when you can lend a hand," Mr Hawken told NZPA.

"I'm driving past and have the equipment."

While the tractor looked as though it would survive, Brent Shearer, a friend of the property's owner, said he was not holding out the same hopes for the house.

"It's just destroyed," he said.

"Cars have fallen into big sinkholes, there's water everywhere. It'll definitely be condemned."