Incredible rescue of man found 'shaking' in tree in croc-infested floodwaters
The rescued man from Queensland claimed to have seen a 'body wash past with a crocodile'.
A Queensland man who had already lost his home to extreme flooding in the state's Far North has been praised for selflessly rescuing two stranded men clinging to trees in croc-infested floodwaters.
As ex-tropical Cyclone Jasper continues to wreak havoc across the country's northeast, stories are emerging of incredible acts of bravery, as Aussies lose their homes, cars and belongings to the deluge.
Over 300 people were rescued overnight in the region, according to Queensland's emergency authorities, and a second evacuation mission will be launched today with assistance from the Australian Defence Force.
Heroic rescue unfolds in Queensland
Gavin Dear, a resident of Rossville in in the Shire of Cook, about 63 kilometres north of Cape Tribulation, said he'd "heard a rumour" there were people stranded in floodwaters, on the roof of the Lion's Den Hotel, so he took his "tinnie" out into the carnage to see for himself.
"Helenvale is a disaster. Rescued a few fellas hanging up in trees," the Queenslander said, posting footage to Facebook. "The second fella we found up a tree in the Annan [River]. He was in a pretty shaken state," Dear continued.
"Hypothermia on the way. A shipping container nearly smashed him flat as it floated past last night. Also saw various bits of our Annan house stuff floating around. Knew it was bad news for the house then."
Homes lost, hundreds displaced
Speaking on Today Extra, Dear recalled the terrifying ordeal.
"Our house is down there, too, which we weren't living in at the time, and we launched the tinnie and we heard cries from the rainforest," he said. "We found one fella up a tree and we took him back... and went out again, towards the pub — we could see the people on the roof there.
"And then we heard more cries coming out of the forest and we went back in and found the second fella. And he was in an even worse state, he was ready to drop I think."
Dear said he'd heard "unconfirmed reports of a stack of people" marooned on the hotel's roof — which is the local pub in the area — so he sprung into action.
"So that's what we did," he said. "And it's lucky we did.
"We've lost both our houses, this house here and another in Cairns. As we were going in the tinnie there, we knew things when we saw bits of my drum kits and machinery floating past, which I knew was on the top shelf of our shed."
Incredible vision taken by Dear and uploaded to social media shows the moment the two men were rescued, with floodwaters shown completely inundating Rossville, with little else able to be seen apart from trees emerging from the deluge.
One man found in tree 'shaking and hallucinating'
Explaining that it must've been quite "a long time" that the second man had been stranded, due to him having "uncontrollable shakes", Dear said he was even hallucinating when he was first approached.
"He said he'd just seen a body wash past him with a crocodile on it," Deer said, adding that that may have been part of his hallucination.
Cairns Airport remains closed as of Tuesday morning after a staggering two metres of rain was dumped on the area in less than a week.
Concerns have now been raised that the city of 160,000 people will soon lose drinking water. More than 2000 homes in Cairns and on the Cassowary coast have had their power restored but floodwaters will need to recede further before crews can do a thorough damage assessment and tackle extensive repairs.
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