A STALWART of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) got a ride to Dubbo yesterday, but not with the iconic service that has offered a helping hand to rescuers in the flooded north-west.
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Joan Treweeke and her husband, Rory, spent four hours waiting for a flight to Sydney at Dubbo airport, after being lifted out of their isolated property, Angledool Station, close to the Queensland border.
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) sent a helicopter to pick up the couple and neighbours, including a man with a back injury, and took them to an isolated Lightning Ridge.
Mrs Treweeke was pleased to catch a glimpse of the RFDS in the town where she reported of a “huge SES operation”, including seven helicopters and a large plane delivering food.
At Lightning Ridge the Treweekes and others boarded a fixed-wing charter plane to Dubbo where they waited patiently.
“We’re lucky to have been able to get here,” said Mrs Treweeke, on her way to a board meeting of the South Eastern Section of the RFDS.
The board’s vice president reports that her home of 43 years is experiencing its third flood in three years. “Last year’s flood broke all the records. This one is equivalent to the flood in ‘56,” she said.
She spoke of many days of heavy rain being exacerbated by the arrival of floodwaters from Queensland this month. “It comes slowly, but it is flat country and the water covers a large area,” Mrs Treweeke said.
A third of Angledool Station was a “flood refuge” where buildings were safe and there was “room to move stock”.
“Not everyone has been able to do that,” she said.
The “gap” between the rain and the arrival of the floodwaters had allowed for “more stock to be moved to safety” in the region.
As Mrs Treweeke flew over Angledool Station yesterday she spotted the very top of its sorghum crop poking out of the water.
All of the station’s rich black soil is under water and probably will be for weeks.
It is a familiar state of affairs for the couple that know too well when to stock up on food and medications.
“Droughts and floods are part of life in the bush,” Mrs Treweeke said.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Dubbo base of the RFDS yesterday reported that it was ready and able to be part of the flood rescue operation. “We have offered our services to the local emergency response personnel should they need extra transportation of people in and out of the area, but so far this hasn’t been required,” she said.
The spokeswoman said the base was still going about its business.
“Currently the floods haven’t affected us at all and it is hard to tell if we are responding to the affected areas more than usual as there isn’t much that is usual in our line of work,” she said.
