The Cairns floods have caused chaos on the roads.
A British man holidaying in Australia has been praised a hero today after rescuing a woman trapped in her sinking car in flood waters.
Andrew Chilvers from Surrey is working in Australia as part of his doctorate in water sustainable development. He spotted the woman stuck in flood waters near Cairns Colonial Club Resort whilst cycling to work. She was trapped in her rapidly sinking BMW.
Three female passers-by were frantically trying to wrench open the door to free the woman but were unable due to the pressure in the car, however Mr Chilvers, who is over 6ft tall was able to stride into the deep waters and open the back door.
Mr Chilvers is now credited with saving two lives as the woman, Bo Pike, was on the phone to her husband, who is a patient at Cairns Private Hospital recovering from heart surgery, telling him “I’m drowning, I’m drowning. The water is rising.” sending Mr Pike into a panic. The couple’s daughter later sent Mr Chilvers an email thanking him for saving not just her mother, but her father too as the panic could have given him a heart attack.
Amazingly, after rescuing Mrs Pike, the visiting Brit then carried on his way to work and had to be tracked down by The Weekend Post. They surprised Mr Chilvers when they turned up at his workplace to interview him about the incident, but he took it all in his stride, denying that he was a hero: “I’m quite grateful I was passing at the time I was. I would say anyone going past would have stopped. I guess I’m grateful I am six foot seven, I suppose. A hero, I don’t know.”
Cairns has been plagued by wild weather that has caused localised flooding making driving conditions on some roads dangerous. 150mm of rain fell in 24 hours on Friday causing a spate of accidents on Cairn’s roads. High tides also exacerbated the problems. With more heavy rain this weekend, residents are being urged to prepare for yet more flooding.
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