A 33-year-old man was seen hanging on a tree to escape death as floodwaters surge all over him in harrowing footage. Following the incident, officers described what caused the experience and how the man was rescued.
How the Man was Rescued
According to Reuters, a man was rescued on Wednesday when floods from a nearby river carried his vehicle off the road, and this made him to cling to a tree for six hours to escape death.
After the vehicle was carried away by floods early in the morning, the man was able to crawl out and cling to a tree until he was saved close to midday. A zipline was put in place to avoid putting rescuers in danger, and the man was transported to safety as the floods receded.
Rescuers told ABC News in Australia that the man, 33, did not sustain any major injury after the incident, except some minor scratches, but was exhausted after being dragged to safety. According to the Reuters story, the man was brought to a local hospital as a precaution after the rescue.
The Todd River rose and flooded the surrounding region on Wednesday as a result of torrential rains that swept over central Australia.
On Wednesday, the experience took place in Alice Springs, in Australia's remote Northern Territory. Thunderstorms dumped a total of 3-4 inches (75-100 mm) of rain on the neighborhood.
Video Shot at the Scene of the Event
According to ABC News, local police official Craig Laidlaw said cops were trying to seal the flooded road at 5 a.m. when the driver tried to move his car through the approaching waves.
"I have to say to people, when the roads are flooded, be very careful. If you're unsure, don't cross if it's flooded," Laidlaw said. "It wasn't a good choice."
Footage from the scene of the incident showed the man hanging on a tree as muddy waters surged all over him, splashing up against the tree trunk and road signs, while rescuers labored to set the zipline that would finally remove him from his bad position.
Rain fell steadily and at times heavily throughout the previous four days, totaling 5.48 inches (139 mm) from Monday morning to Wednesday evening. The most torrential rain occurred at the Alice Springs Airport from Tuesday to Wednesday, totaling 4 inches (100 mm).
The majority of the rain came in a short period of time, from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, turning the Todd River into a raging water body.
Rise of Water Level in Todd River
On Wednesday morning, the Todd River, which passes through Alice Springs, swelled about 13 feet (4 meters) in only a few hours. On Wednesday afternoon, the river peaked at moderate flood level and began to recede.
Training thunderstorms are capable of delivering significant rainfall totals since they travel over the same location in a short amount of time. These storms tend to pass through the same location one after the other, much as train carriages do when they go along tracks.
"The front that produced the rain in Alice Springs is pushing east of the city, so the area will be dry from Thursday through the weekend," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and Lead International Forecaster Jason Nicholls.
As it moves east, this front may bring severe thunderstorms to eastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland on Thursday. Wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour, hail, and flash floods are all possible.
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