Lifeboat crew never quite know what to expect when they’re called out. But even they must have been surprised to be deployed away from the coast.On 30 December, Girvan lifeboat crew members went to the aid of 12 people stranded on a bus in a raging flood near Dailly, South Ayrshire, 15 miles inland. On scene, the Royal Navy helicopter had to refuel after airlifting 10 people from the bus. So Girvan crew and police officers climbed into the bus through a window and rescued the two remaining casualties. The next day, more RNLI volunteers stepped up as the Flood Rescue Team helped evacuate residents from a flooded care home in Peebles. Then, on 2 January, lifeboat volunteers from Aberdeen travelled 40 miles inland to help restore power to the village of Ballater. The residents had been without electricity for 4 days. In heavy winds and driving rain, the Aberdeen crew members used rocket line throwers to get a power line 60m across the River Dee, where Scottish Hydro workers started to restore power to the area. (Rocket line throwers, pictured above, are usually used by RNLI crews to pass ropes to a vessel to assist in rescues.)