Man watches as $80,000 SUV gets swept away in floods
A South Australian man admits he's lucky to be alive after watching his $80,000 Mercedes SUV get swept away in floodwaters.
Gordon Wang made the mistake of trying to cross metre-high water this morning when he realised something "wasn't right".
He got out of the car and climbed on top of the roof, calling police as neighbours rushed to help.
"I was asking him to stay, to stay and wait until we had some help coming," neighbour Gail said.
Emergency services were on the way, but suddenly the Mercedes began floating in the murky water.
"He's actually jumped into the water and gone under a few times, but he's pulled himself up, which is fantastic," Gail said.
Not so fantastic was the fate of Gordon's luxury car, which ended up stuck in the raging Bremer River.
"The river was much stronger than I expected," Gordon said.
"I just grabbed the grass, anything I could grab."
The SUV was taken 500 metres down the river.
SES spokesman Ben Birbeck said 15cm of water is enough to push a vehicle off the road.
The message is clear - if a creek or river is flooding, don't attempt to cross it or the consequences could be fatal.
"Very, very lucky man, it's just crazy people try to cross rivers this time of year," a witness, Owen said.
"Yeah, lucky to be alive," Gordon said.
"That's the most important thing - I got two kids!"
