Margie Maccoll
When floodwaters engulfed the Gympie region on the weekend and “things went pear-shaped“ Noosa swift water rescue technician Ben Walker was called back from his holidays to assist.
The Maroochydore-based Queensland Fire and Emergency officer, who is a lead firefighter specially trained for swift water rescue, began his shift at 6pm, then was tasked from one rescue to the next until 8pm the next day.
On their way to evacuate residents from their flooded houses near Curra, Ben and colleagues happened upon a man stranded not far off the Bruce Highway and with help from the local team waded through flood waters to rescue him.
“We saw a guy in a tree (one or two metres high off the water). His car had been washed off the highway. He got our attention with his phone light,“ Ben said.
Just nearby they met a motorbike rider walking through floodwaters about a kilometre from his bike and brought him to safety before making their way to the flooded houses.
“People were making calls from quite a lot of houses. Floods coming through your house in the middle of the night is not the best of circumstances,“ he said.
“We had nowhere we could take them. We could only take them to the servo up the road and that was already full. The water had receded so we left them with safety strategies“.
“We got tasked all over the countryside to various jobs. Sadly one was to locate the young man who passed away (when his car washed off the road). At least he got located so his family could start the grieving process.“
Ben said the volume of rain and the terrain made the work difficult.
“It was a phenomenal amount of rain and it just kept raining,“ he said.
