Lucky to be alive
Published: February 6, 2007
A JOY-RIDE down raging flood waters almost ended in tragedy at the weekend.
A man, 22, clung to a small tree as dangerously fast-flowing waters threatened to sweep him downstream.
The man had been skylarking with three mates in an inflatable raft down the Ross River near Kelso on Saturday about 2.30pm when trouble started.
A Queensland Ambulance spokesman said the raft hit a snag then quickly deflated – its occupants thrown into the water.
“The raft was punctured by one of thetrees and he ended up in one of the trees,” Rasmussen Police Beat Senior Constable Paul Peterson said. His friends made it back to shore, looking on in horror as their mate fought to cling to the tree for up to an hour.
Queensland Fire Deep Water Rescue crew were activated but it was decided the rescue helicopter was needed to save the man.
A crew member from the helicopter was winched down to the stranded man, before he was pulled to safety.
His relieved friends said they were pleased he was rescued, but declined to comment on what they had been doing rafting down the flood waters.
One of the group said she was ’sorry’, another man said they had suffered a few ‘cuts and bruises but we are OK’.
But local residents on waterfront properties were not impressed. Anita Dunne watched the rescue from her back deck .
She said it was not the first time she had witnessed people floating down the river.
“It’s really dangerous and I don’t think people realise how dangerous it is,” Mrs Dunne said.
“From living here we know about all the trees and all the branches that are under there but they don’t know. Since the water has come up this far there has been a lot of people over the last few days I’ve seen coming down in canoes and pool toys and if people are going to do it they need to do it responsibly. Things like this have wasted a lot of people’s time and resources.”
Kelso riverfront resident George Purdie said thrill seekers had been ‘trying their luck’ since flood waters rose last week.
“It’s been a disaster waiting to happen,” Mr Purdie said.”The breadth of the river has probably increased by 200m, normally the flow of the river is 50m away where it is streaming down the middle but the young kids have been coming down the river since it has been flooded.”
Sen Constable Paul Peterson urged people to stay out of the flood waters.
But it was a message that would prove hard to get through.
“We’re surprised the amount of people who actually are going into the water trying to cross and so forth,” Sen Constable Peters said.
“In fact just two minutes ago (after the rescue) four fellas floated past each in individual rafts, it would have been so easy for one of them to get punctured like the last one did,” he said.
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