The Toowoomba-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew has airlifted a father and his young daughter to hospital, after they survived for two nights clinging to a tree, surrounded by deep floodwater.
The rescue helicopter was tasked to a homestead in the Gympie region at 1pm (Sunday 9th Jan), after the pair made their way to the property, told their story of survival and called emergency services.
The father explained to the crew that his car had been caught between two sections of flood waters on Friday night and water began filling the car.
He and his primary school aged daughter climbed onto the roof of the vehicle but were swept into the water in the darkness.
They were washed into a tree, which they clung onto through out the weekend, without anyone knowing where they were.
The father said on the first night, he swam back to the submerged car and quickly grabbed a rope, which he used to tie himself and his child to the tree, so they wouldn’t be washed away.
When the water subsided on Sunday morning, the pair carefully climbed down more than 10 metres to the ground and made their way to the homestead to raise the alarm.
The RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctor and Queensland Ambulance Service Flight Paramedic assessed the pair.
They had suffered exposure, dehydration and a lot of insect bites.
They were airlifted to a regional hospital for further medical attention.
It was the second flood-related mission in the Gympie region for the Toowoomba chopper crew.
On Saturday (8th Jan) they airlifted a man who had been injured after he drove into floodwaters in the early hours of the morning.
The man, who is aged in his fifties, managed to get himself out of his vehicle and walked for approximately a kilometre, until he was able to find a house and call for help.
He was airlifted to Sunshine Coast University Hospital, suffering back injuries.
