IN DEEP TROUBLE
TRADIE RESCUES DRIVER OUT OF FLOODED CAR AS DELUGE HITS
CAIRNS electrician Sam Greenwood (above) has been hailed a hero after he saved the life of a man who nearly drowned as his car was swamped in floodwaters south of Cairns.
The 27-year-old used an axe to smash a window to drag a man in his 60s from the stricken vehicle on the Gillies Highway near the Goldsborough Valley turnoff about 3pm yesterday.
The rescue came as the region was saturated with heavy rains, roads were cut by rising floodwaters and motorists were left stranded.
A MOTORIST was forced to use an axe to smash open a car window to rescue a fellow driver who nearly drowned in a vehicle stuck in floodwaters south of Cairns.
Cairns electrician Sam Greenwood, 27, was on his way down the Gillies Range about 3pm yesterday when he found the bottom of the road was completely cut off by rising water.
Watching the spectacle with fellow motorists, they were shocked to see a white Toyota RAV4 floating near the turn-off to Goldsborough Valley, heading towards the flooded Mulgrave River.
After one of the bystanders believed they could see the windscreen wipers on the vehicle still operating, Mr Greenwood dived into the water and swam towards the stricken SUV.
He was shocked to find the driver stuck inside, a man in his late-60s who appeared close to drowning.
“He was sort of just breathing up near where your visor is – he had his head up there,” he said. “I freaked out, because it took me by surprise. I tried to bust open the window, but couldn’t get through.”
The young electrician swam back to his four-wheel drive and grabbed an axe, which he then used to smash open the Toyota’s window and pulled the elderly motorist out.
“When I was smashing the window, I was sort of scared that he was going to go under, because he was on the opposite side of the car,” he said.
“He had to squeeze over the seat to get to me.”
The man had driven down the Gillies Range from Herberton trying to get to Cairns Airport, but appeared to have misjudged the height of water over the road after arriving at the bottom of the range.
Mr Greenwood gave the man, who was clearly embarrassed by the ordeal, a lift home to the Tablelands before continuing on his own way home via the Kuranda Range.
He said the man was very grateful for the rescue, offering to buy him dinner at a local pub. “I still don’t know how he was still inside,” he said.
“If that vehicle wasn’t floating, he would have been well and truly gone, poor fella.”
Mr Greenwood said the incident was a clear reminder to motorists to heed warnings about floodwaters.
“You always see those warnings on social media, and I laugh because I do a lot of fourwheel driving and I have crossed the odd bit of water, probably when I shouldn’t have,” he said. “But yeah, it’s obviously not worth it.”