‘BOOM BOOM’ TO THE RESCUE
TOWNSVILLE DJ Leonard “Boom Boom” Beckett answered nearly 90 calls for help during the floods, using his work truck to rescue people and assist others in trouble.
A “FLOODY legend” who carried out nearly 90 rescues at the peak of Townsville’s flooding said it was a mother’s call for help that pushed him to act.
Leonard Beckett, a DJ who goes by the stage name “Boom Boom Beckett”, said he hopped into his work truck on February 2 and didn’t stop going until the flood catastrophe was over.
He didn’t even stop to celebrate his own birthday on Friday, opting instead to help in the recovery effort.
“A lady contacted me on Facebook on Saturday asking if she could hire my truck … because she was in need and her children were in need,” Mr Beckett said. “They had no food and no accommodation, and she said she hadn’t eaten in three days; could I help her. It was very emotional, it really hit me and I thought, I have to do something about this.”
He drove to the family in Bluewater and took them to safety and handed them some money for food.
He hopped back into his truck and began rescuing families and helping out residents in strife.
In total Mr Beckett estimated he carried out 87 rescues, and at one point helped move a family of 13 to safer ground.
Indigenous elder and poet Coralie Cassady said she reached out to Mr Beckett the morning after the Ross River Dam spillway gates were fully opened.
“I sent over a message to him, I said bub do you think you can come pick me and my son up take us to the evacuation centre?” Ms Cassady said.
“We had water dripping through the ceiling inside.
“He was here within minutes.”
Mr Beckett, originally from Cherbourg, insisted he was not a hero.
“I’ve been in Townsville 25 years, and this is what I like doing; I’d help anybody,” he said.