LOCAL helicopter company Far West Helico’s co-owner, pilot Alex Johnson, found himself flying over floodwaters in remote outback Queensland last week to help reconnect a landholder with his station manager.
Johnson was contacted by the landholder, who had no way of checking in on his station manager near Eromanga in Queensland, as all roads to the property had been cut off.
“So he called and the manager was stranded there with no road in or out,” Johnson said.
“The station owner was on a property just north of Broken Hill, so I picked him up and we flew up there.”
Johnson said the pair landed on a tiny patch of dry ground on the property.
“We landed on the only patch of ground that was visible for a long way,” he said.
“Then he [the landholder] swam over to the house and got a jetski and jet skied back over to pick me up and we went into the house.”
Johnson said the area had measured 360mls of rain, before the rain gauge went underwater.
When flying over the south-west Queensland region, Johnson said he was amazed by the amount of water below.
“It was amazing, like nothing I’ve ever flown over or seen before,” he said.
“Just the amount of water that was there. You couldn’t even tell where the creeks were anymore, you could see where the fence lines were, but the fences were underwater. It’s like you’re flying over a big inland ocean.”
Far West Helico have said anyone in need of help from the air can contact them by calling 0486 161 203.
