The Land Rover LifeFlight Special Mission helicopter crew has rescued 18 people and 14 pets – including dogs, cats and a turtle – as floodwaters swept through Central West New South Wales this morning.
The helicopter was tasked on back-to-back rescue missions by the New South Wales State Emergency Service (NSW SES), from around 5am.
The crew initially flew to Ophir Reserve Campground, in a valley north-east of Orange, where they rescued three people and a dog.
The campers told the crew it wasn’t raining when they went to bed last night, but they awoke early this morning to water rising halfway up caravans.
The crew provided care to keep them warm, as they were suffering hyperthermia-like symptoms, before transferring them into the care of New South Wales Ambulance paramedics, at Orange Airport.
The helicopter was then sent to an area between Murga and Eugowra, where two neighbouring residents were trapped separately, both surrounded by fast-flowing floodwater.
The LifeFlight Paramedic, who is also a qualified Rescue Crew Officer, was first winched down to a woman waiting in her house and brought her up to safety, before rescuing the neighbour from the back of a ute.
Further upstream, they located a woman who’s home had been destroyed, with the walls reportedly blown out by the force of the water.
She had made it out on to dry ground, so the crew was able to land the Land Rover LifeFlight Special Mission helicopter in a nearby paddock, to collect her.
The rescuees were all flown to Parkes Airport, from where the crew then set out to the hard-hit town of Eugowra.
The team airlifted twelve people from the flood ravaged town, along with 10 dogs, two cats and even a pet turtle.
The Land Rover LifeFlight Special Mission helicopter is usually based in Queensland, but is currently operating out of Wagga Wagga in the NSW Riverina region, after LifeFlight was tasked by NSW SES, to support their response to the current ongoing flood situation.
Anticipating the requirement, NSW SES strategically prepositioned the LifeFlight chopper in the region on Tuesday 18th October ready for quick response to people in the community needing aerial support.
The AW139 helicopter is configured for emergency response duties and is capable of day and night operations, including Search and Rescue, aeromedical response and movement of personnel and freight.
The aircraft is part of LifeFlight Australia’s commercial operation, which supports the work of the community helicopter fleet, through our profit-for-purpose model.
In the 2021-22 Financial Year, RACQ LifeFlight Rescue’s community helicopters, Air Ambulance jets, Critical Care Doctors, Flight Nurses and Flight Paramedics came to the aid of 6,825 people.
