Couple rescued from floating car just moments before it was swept into a creek

WAYNE Whiting believed he was going to spend the night just turning motorists away from a flooded road — not rescuing them.

Wayne Whiting pulled two terrified people from this car after floodwaters swamped Lenah Valley Rd.

WAYNE Whiting believed he was going to spend the night just turning motorists away from a flooded road — not rescuing them.

Mr Whiting, a resident of Lenah Valley Rd near the Pura Milk factory, said he and other locals came out about midnight to turn drivers away from the flooded road.

MORE FLOOD COVERAGE

LIVE: FLOODS SWEEP ACROSS HOBART

KINGSTON CLEAN-UP AFTER NIGHT OF DRAMA

MEGA GALLERY: EXTREME WEATHER SLAMS CITY

Wayne Whiting, of Lenah Valley, rescued a couple in a car stuck in floodwaters on Lenah Valley Rd. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

What he did next was nothing short of heroic.

“The current was strong enough to push cars along the street,” he said.

“I was about to go home but I saw some headlights floating down the road.”

The car belonged to a Lenah Valley couple who had become trapped in their vehicle. Mr Whiting said he waded into waist-deep water to free them before their car floated down an embankment and into the flooded Lenah Valley Creek.

“As I went to open the car door it was floating. I pulled and he [the driver] pushed the door from the inside. I got them both out and walked them to my car and then walked them home.”

Mr Whiting said he was originally from North Queensland so he was used to floods — but that didn’t go for some other locals.

“I spoke to a lady who has lived here for 31 years who said she’d never seen anything like it.”