Terrifying dashcam shows how quickly a car can get taken by floodwaters

Incredible dashcam footage shows how quickly a car can run into and be taken by floodwaters, with a driver seen crashing into a flooded Queensland road and washed away within seconds.

Sydney man Adrian Hastwell-Batten was driving a ute along an unfamiliar rain-drenched Queensland road when an swollen river appeared out of nowhere.

Dashcam footage shows the driver slam on his brakes when he realised there was no way across the rising floodwater - but it was too late.

There was nothing Mr Hastwell-Batten could have done when his car crashed into the waters that had risen over Heales Road, Sharon, just outside Bundaberg.

"I've just f***ing crashed into a river dude. F***," he can be heard yelling to someone on the phone.

"My car is just f***ing gone, dude. I'm in a river, I'm f***ed, I'm f***ed."

His ute continued to be swept along the road until it hit a tree, stopping it from being washed away the river's main flow.

The driver managed to climb out of a window and crawl onto the roof where he spent the next hour waiting for a swift water rescue team.

Mr Hastwell-Batten told the ABC how remaining calm through the ordeal helped him escape the vehicle to safety until rescuers arrived.

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"I think in those situations if you allow yourself to panic then you're pretty much halfway there to being not there," he said.

The Sydney driver said there wasn’t much he could have done to prevent the situation, as he was driving 80km/h in a 100km/h zone, in an unfamiliar area.

"If I was a local I'd probably know that roads flood pretty easily; the farmer next door said every time it rains someone goes into that river," he said.