Mav
Observer
Well what an experience we had our adventure will probably make it to all the news networks either today or tomorrow.
I have never in my life of driving been in such a life and death situation, yep it was that bad. In fact we have only just arrived home as of 10:30 this morning. One comment I made to the group as our collective courage was waning was that I had the theme to Gilligans Island runing through my head.
We had bolt lightning, we had sheet lightning and the heavens opened up on Owen Springs to the tune of 34 mm in about 3 hours. Without a word of a lie it was as though we were travelling in a river for the whole time we were in the reserve. I have never seen flooding going up a hill until last night and what did we have to rely on - bloody Grandtreks! :REOutShootinghunter :REOutShootinghunter :REOutShootinghunter Another first was to completely submerge the Prado with water over the bonnet, coming out the other side was sheer wall of clay. We made half way and that was it, all forward motion ceased and it was replaced with sideways movement towards a major drop off. Luckily I was able to hold the Prado long enogh to secure a snatch strap to an 80 series and the rescue was performed.
Little did we know what lay ahead of us once we left Owen Springs reserve to head back to town. The weather was absolutely out of this world, we were dodging large debris on the tar along with massive amounts of water covering the road. We were doing okay until we got to Jay Creek crossing and then it all went to hell in a handbag. We could see the water was moving very fast but it was decided that someone would walk it to see if it was still passable. The deepest part was knee high but by the time the person came back to shore and the decision was made to try a crossing too much time had passed and nobody noticed that the water height had increased dramatically.
Well one person in a Troopy set off to forge the creek crossing and he was doing really well, even though I had already decided that we were not going to cross even if he made it, when bang - he was hit broadside by a large piece of debris infact it was a massive tree limb. The tree limb was easily the size of a moderate gum tree, well the force of the water and the limb against the troopy was too much for it and our hearts sank into a bottomless pit as we stood and watched helplessly as the Troopy was swept away.
Luckily the Troopy went side on to a very broad ghost gum trunk and it stayed pinned against it long enough for the driver to escape through the drivers door window. He managed to get on top of the Troopy before it again succumbed to the raging waters, the driver now on the roof was flung into the waters and swept away. Again luckily he was swept towars a small sapling in the middle of a now raging river and his leg became wedged in a fork of the sapling. He then had no other option but to cling to this lifeline until he was either rescued or he was swept away for good.
This all occured at 11:30 pm last night, it took us to 3 am to eventually rescue the driver from the sapling, with great personal risk to all invovled from our group I might add. The amount of debris that was hitting us in the water it is amazing that there are not reports of multiple fatalities tthis morning. It was extremely lucky that we had enough snatch straps between us including normal nylon rope and 5 litre containers to act as floatation devices to enable us to pull of this rescue. Hours in cold raging water cold winds and torrential rain certainly took its toll on us for a while I seriously did not believe that it was going to have a happy ending.
To top this off we all only took snacks and drinks to last for a couple of hours, not 16 hours. Nobody had changes of clothing, the driver had hyperthermia and I think so did the rescuers once we had finished 3 or more hours in the river. I know we are all very happy to be back in town after SES and Police managed to get to the other side of Jay Creek at 7:30 am this morning. It still took another 2.5 hours of waiting till it was semi safe to get us all across.
I am very happy to report that everyone returned back to their homes and only the Troopy was lost. The amount of water was frighteningly impressive and something I have no desire to experience again.
I can tell you that I was ******** scared forging the reserve and Jay Creek with my children and wife in the car with me, had the worst occured it would have been disasterous for everone.
To give you an idea of how wild this river was during the height of the rescue, in the folowing photos the Troopy you can see was completely submerged in the raging torrents.
The first is the intial sweeping away:
It stayed on this snag briefly before it succumbed to the strength of the river torrents:
The final sweeping away:
The next photo shows how it ended up, I obviously was not able to take photos of the rescue operation as I was involved with it being in the river with 3 other guys.
In the previous shot the Troopy was not visible during the rescue op. which gives you an idea of how high the river rose in lightning speed.
Fortunately for everyone involved this outing did not end in tradjic circumstances but it just goes to show how a simple little drive can go so massively wrong and end up with near fatalities.
This next shot shows what our journey through Owen Springs was like pretty much the whole way:
The next is the shot of the debris we had to deal with whilst we were in the river, this stuff was hitting us constantly.
Motto of this story is simply "Always go prepared for an extended trip"
I have never in my life of driving been in such a life and death situation, yep it was that bad. In fact we have only just arrived home as of 10:30 this morning. One comment I made to the group as our collective courage was waning was that I had the theme to Gilligans Island runing through my head.
We had bolt lightning, we had sheet lightning and the heavens opened up on Owen Springs to the tune of 34 mm in about 3 hours. Without a word of a lie it was as though we were travelling in a river for the whole time we were in the reserve. I have never seen flooding going up a hill until last night and what did we have to rely on - bloody Grandtreks! :REOutShootinghunter :REOutShootinghunter :REOutShootinghunter Another first was to completely submerge the Prado with water over the bonnet, coming out the other side was sheer wall of clay. We made half way and that was it, all forward motion ceased and it was replaced with sideways movement towards a major drop off. Luckily I was able to hold the Prado long enogh to secure a snatch strap to an 80 series and the rescue was performed.
Little did we know what lay ahead of us once we left Owen Springs reserve to head back to town. The weather was absolutely out of this world, we were dodging large debris on the tar along with massive amounts of water covering the road. We were doing okay until we got to Jay Creek crossing and then it all went to hell in a handbag. We could see the water was moving very fast but it was decided that someone would walk it to see if it was still passable. The deepest part was knee high but by the time the person came back to shore and the decision was made to try a crossing too much time had passed and nobody noticed that the water height had increased dramatically.
Well one person in a Troopy set off to forge the creek crossing and he was doing really well, even though I had already decided that we were not going to cross even if he made it, when bang - he was hit broadside by a large piece of debris infact it was a massive tree limb. The tree limb was easily the size of a moderate gum tree, well the force of the water and the limb against the troopy was too much for it and our hearts sank into a bottomless pit as we stood and watched helplessly as the Troopy was swept away.
Luckily the Troopy went side on to a very broad ghost gum trunk and it stayed pinned against it long enough for the driver to escape through the drivers door window. He managed to get on top of the Troopy before it again succumbed to the raging waters, the driver now on the roof was flung into the waters and swept away. Again luckily he was swept towars a small sapling in the middle of a now raging river and his leg became wedged in a fork of the sapling. He then had no other option but to cling to this lifeline until he was either rescued or he was swept away for good.
This all occured at 11:30 pm last night, it took us to 3 am to eventually rescue the driver from the sapling, with great personal risk to all invovled from our group I might add. The amount of debris that was hitting us in the water it is amazing that there are not reports of multiple fatalities tthis morning. It was extremely lucky that we had enough snatch straps between us including normal nylon rope and 5 litre containers to act as floatation devices to enable us to pull of this rescue. Hours in cold raging water cold winds and torrential rain certainly took its toll on us for a while I seriously did not believe that it was going to have a happy ending.
To top this off we all only took snacks and drinks to last for a couple of hours, not 16 hours. Nobody had changes of clothing, the driver had hyperthermia and I think so did the rescuers once we had finished 3 or more hours in the river. I know we are all very happy to be back in town after SES and Police managed to get to the other side of Jay Creek at 7:30 am this morning. It still took another 2.5 hours of waiting till it was semi safe to get us all across.
I am very happy to report that everyone returned back to their homes and only the Troopy was lost. The amount of water was frighteningly impressive and something I have no desire to experience again.
I can tell you that I was ******** scared forging the reserve and Jay Creek with my children and wife in the car with me, had the worst occured it would have been disasterous for everone.
To give you an idea of how wild this river was during the height of the rescue, in the folowing photos the Troopy you can see was completely submerged in the raging torrents.
The first is the intial sweeping away:
It stayed on this snag briefly before it succumbed to the strength of the river torrents:
The final sweeping away:
The next photo shows how it ended up, I obviously was not able to take photos of the rescue operation as I was involved with it being in the river with 3 other guys.
In the previous shot the Troopy was not visible during the rescue op. which gives you an idea of how high the river rose in lightning speed.
Fortunately for everyone involved this outing did not end in tradjic circumstances but it just goes to show how a simple little drive can go so massively wrong and end up with near fatalities.
This next shot shows what our journey through Owen Springs was like pretty much the whole way:
The next is the shot of the debris we had to deal with whilst we were in the river, this stuff was hitting us constantly.
Motto of this story is simply "Always go prepared for an extended trip"
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