‘I was singing out to him but there was no response’: Inquest opens into 2016 flood deaths

A survivor of Tasmania’s devastating 2016 floods has detailed the tragic final moments of her partner as an inquest into the disaster begins. FULL REPORT >>

KAREN Cassidy and her partner Peter Watson had crawled out the window and on top of their newspaper delivery van, when a surge of flood water swept him away forever.

“I didn’t see him again … it was too dark,” Ms Cassidy said.

“I was singing out to him but there was no response.”

An inquest into the June 2016 flood deaths of newspaper delivery driver Peter Watson, 63, and farmer Trevor Foster, 81, opened in Hobart on Wednesday before Coroner Simon Cooper.

The inquest will examine the response of Tasmania’s triple-0 service in flood waters, and the cause of a water surge that swept Mr Foster away as he tended to sheep at his Ouse property.

Ms Cassidy tearfully recounted Mr Watson’s final moments after their van became inundated with water at Evandale, after they’d called their families to say goodbye.

“He was a lovely fellow. It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever get over,” she said.

“I can remember he said, when we first got out of the window, ‘we’re going to have to jump soon’. I didn’t answer.

“I thought no, I can’t.”

Launceston, Tasmania during the 2016 floods. Heath Holden/The Australian

Ms Cassidy had decided to join Mr Watson on his run that morning as he’d had some concerns about the weather, and she thought “four eyes would be better than two”.

Mr Watson’s boss had told him to stick to the main roads and not take any risks as he made his way through Tasmania’s northeast in the early hours, in a Toyota Hiace van.

But about 2.45am, Ms Cassidy saw water entering the van’s cabin, around her feet, with the water soon making its way to window-height.

“I told (Peter) we should ring our families as I didn’t think we were going to get out of this,” Ms Cassidy said in a statement read to the court.

“I said to Peter ‘you know we’re going to die, don’t you?’”

The pair saw a large blue truck approaching and thought it would come rescue them – but it remained stationary.

Karen Cassidy and Peter Watson. Photo: ABC

The van continued to sink and slip off the road.

After Mr Watson slipped away into the water, Ms Cassidy was forced to launch herself off the bullbar – she tried to swim but her joggers weighed her down.

She grabbed onto a log, calling out for help, until she was spotted by police – who sent a helicopter to winch her to safety.

Sergeant Nathaniel Eldershaw said he spotted the pair’s van stuck in flood waters on the wrong side of the road, noticing an “intermittent light”.

He was told a helicopter would be delayed because of weather conditions.

Constable Sam Lloyd, who has since retired from the force, emotionally recounted the moment he walked through the flood water to help Ms Cassidy.

“I provided some reassuring words that we were looking (for Mr Watson),” he said.

“I was trying to provide as much positive reinforcement as we could until the helicopter got there.”

Constable Bradley Collins, who was working on-call for search and rescue, was part of the team that located Mr Watson’s jacket and wallet, and later his body in the river.

He said Tasmania Police didn’t have any staff trained in swift water rescue at the time.

Mr Foster’s death will be the focus of hearings on Thursday, while the flood death of 75-year-old Latrobe woman Mary Allford will be examined in September.

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