Cardwell man stages daring dinghy rescue — without steering — in rising floodwaters

A Cardwell man has helped stage a dramatic late night rescue, propelling his boat down a flooded street and whisking nearby neighbours to safety.

Cardwell resident Brent Churton launched a dinghy from his car port before whisking nearby residents to safety before their home flooded.

A Far North man has helped stage a dramatic late night evacuation, propelling his boat down a flooded street and whisking nearby neighbours higher ground.

Cardwell residents Debra and Brent Churton jumped into action late on Sunday night as gullies and creeks near their Roma St home started to spill over at around 11pm.

“Our neighbours called up and said, ‘We’re getting water in our house, we’re about to come over’,” Ms Churton said.

“The other neighbour was asleep, so we woke her up and said, ‘You’ve gotta go’.

“At this stage the water was halfway up our stairs.”

A backyard above ground swimming pool is inundated in Cardwell.

With floodwaters still rising, the Churtons’ attention soon turned to nearby residents in lower lying areas of the street.

“My hubby decided to launch the boat in our carport which is something we never thought we’d be able to do,” Ms Churton said.

“So he took the boat across the road which was now a river by this stage and managed to get some people across the road out safely.”

The swift water rescue nearly went awry when Mr Churton lost steering on the dinghy after a cable snapped on the outboard motor.

“The water had already started to turn into a rapid ... so we started spinning around,” Mr Churton said.

“The gentleman I had rescued actually ended up hugging the motor so as to turn the vehicle.

“Anything that could’ve gone wrong, pretty much did. It could’ve ended quite badly.

“By the time we got back to my place about 15 minutes later we were already chest deep in water.”

Around 10 residents, two cats and a dog then fled through the Churtons backyard to a nearby road where friends and family found them.

“We managed to get out safely with our backpacks but one of our neighbours lost everything,” Ms Churton said.

“This has never happened before. A couple on our street are in their 70s and they said they’ve never seen anything like it. It’s definitely catastrophic.”

Cardwell and surrounding communities are without power and limited telecommunications following a major flooding event that occurred across the weekend.

District disaster coordinator for the Innisfail district, Inspector Nathan Blain said additional police officers were called in prior to the flooding event on Sunday night.

“From Sunday morning through till last night we had two incidents of flash flooding which required police to assist affected residents,” Inspector Blain said.

“Police and Swiftwater Rescue responded with police using extra resources, including 16 officers, so authorities were quick to respond.”

Far Northern Region SES Regional Director Wayne Coutts said authorities were still determining the extent of damage to homes but estimated that more than a dozen properties had been flooded during the rain event.

“It was nuts with the amount of water that came through the area and it just kept coming down,” Mr Coutts said.

“SES are trying to find out what level of assistance is needed along with police and other emergency services.

“We’re trying to figure out what people need in terms of assistance. We’re very much trying to gather that data at the moment.”

Patchy phone service and power outages on Monday had frustrated community members, Kookaburra Holiday Park owner operator, Colin Mitchell said.

“We’re fortunate that none of our accommodation has flooded but almost everything is shut,” Mr Mitchell said.

“Several people have been flooded. I’ve had calls from insurance companies for locals already.

“The phones have been very weird. The reception is terrible.

“It’s probably going to take several days for power to get restored. We’ve got a generator that will keep people’s phones charged and the lights on.”

Premier David Crisafulli arrived in Townsville on Monday afternoon and will tour through disaster-affected communities over the coming days.

Originally published as Cardwell man stages daring dinghy rescue — without steering — in rising floodwaters