An Aussie bloke hailed a hero for rescuing six people from raging floodwaters has recalled the dark moment he realised a woman had drowned.
Josh, a 34-year-old council worker from flood-stricken Ingham, was one of two people who rushed to the aid of an SES boat after it flipped mid-rescue in North Queensland on Sunday morning.
He had been video-chatting with his cousin when the SES boat smashed into a tree, sending two volunteers, two elderly people and two children into the murky water.
‘He flipped the camera so I could see the SES rescue boat and we watched it floating along until it crashed and flipped,’ Josh told Daily Mail Australia.
‘At that point I said “I’ll talk to you later”, hung up on him and got my boat straight in the water because I live just around the corner.’
As Josh rushed to the scene on Rutledge Street, he ran into his neighbour – an off-duty police officer, Dave – who climbed in to help.
‘It was lucky he came because by the time we found them, they were struggling to cling to the trees,’ Josh said.
‘I managed to get my boat at the back of tree where the SES boat was, inside that we found the deceased lady.’
Queensland Police and army personnel are pictured door-knocking residents in Townsville
Rain-weary locals in Ingham and surrounding towns have described the floods as ‘unprecedented’ (Rutledge Street is pictured)
Josh, a council worker from Ingham, helped rescue five people after an SES boat flipped during a rescue on Rutledge Street (pictured)
Amid the rushing water and yells from the boat’s remaining passengers, Josh managed to lift the 63-year-old’s body into his boat.
‘Then we had to get up to where the two children were,’ he said.
‘Dave wedged the boat against the tree so we wouldn’t go anywhere. I was down one end helping an SES member while he helped the younger people up.
‘Swiftwater rescue and the police boat then arrived and managed to get the older gentleman and other SES person.’
The police boat took the survivors to safety while Josh drove the deceased woman to the local station while an emergency responder performed CPR.
Despite saving five lives in the brave operation, Josh insisted he only did ‘what anyone else would do’.
‘I thought, no one else knows yet, I’m going to get there a lot sooner than anyone else,’ he said.
Rain-weary locals in Ingham and surrounding towns have described the intense rainfall as ‘unprecedented’.
The Bruce Highway has been inundated by floodwaters after the intense rainfall (pictured)
A woman, 63, died despite the best efforts of Josh and an off-duty cop (Ingham is pictured)
Businesses and homes are now facing the prospect of a mammoth clean-up job (pictured, flood-affected stores on a main street in Ingham, Queensland)
‘The waters at the floorboards. I’ve lost $60,000 worth of motorbikes. My cousin’s lost everything,’ resident of 13 years, Josh Turner, said.
‘We’re just doing our best to stay high and dry while waiting it out.’
Another long-term local, Khaden, believes the floods would surpass the record of 15.2metres set in 1967 as water moves down the Herbert River.
‘It’s more widespread than ’67. Houses that didn’t get water and businesses that didn’t get water in ’67 are underwater,’ he said.
‘I know there’s a bunch of cars parked in Ingham up on a high slab that’s never had water and all the cars are wrecked. There is going to be months of cleanup, months of people going without houses to live in.’
The intense rain in northern Queensland eased on Monday afternoon with six-hour totals peaking at 50 to 100mm rather than up to 600mm over the weekend.
There were still some isolated high rainfall totals between Innisfail and Ingham where 167mm was recorded at Clyde Road at Babinda and 149mm at Paluma.
The Bureau of Meteorology warned that Tuesday could bring local heavy rainfall between Cairns and Townsville with a severe weather warning in place between Cardwell and Yabulu.
