Newspaper headlines at the time detailed the woman's "nightmare dash" from Warren to Dubbo, which required a horse and sulky, a rowing boat, two Army Ducks and an ambulance.

Mrs Austin Wilcoxon, of 'Marybrook', Warren, became very ill suffering from acute appendicitis on Thursday, October 26, 1950.

A party had set out to take her from her flood-bound property into Warren about 10pm that evening, the Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate reported on October 28.

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The team of rescuers initially went by horse and sulky for three miles to the Macquarie River, which they crossed in a rowing boat.

Mrs Wilcoxson was met by Warren Ambulance Superintendent, Alan Graham and transferred to an Army Duck which took her into Warren.

After she was examined by a doctor, the woman was again taken aboard the Army Duck which set out for Trangie. But unexpectedly the Army Duck transporting them suffered a punctured tyre and Mrs Wilcoxson was transferred to another Duck, which eventually brought her safely to Trangie.

She was met by Superintendent Stewart and Bearer N Wood of the Dubbo Ambulance brigade who had made, what was described at the time as a "hazardous night dash" from Dubbo.

Leaving Dubbo shortly before midnight their ambulance car had to negotiate nine inches of water over the road before approaching White Bridge. The river was then rising and they believed on the return trip they might have to take Mrs Wilcoxson by stretcher across the bridge.

The ambulance struck at least six bad patches of water on the road between Narromine and Trangie.

"In one place there was about a quarter of a mile of water across the road", said Mr Wood told the Dubbo Liberal at the time.

"With potholes and slippery detours making the position so much worse, I doubt whether we could have made it if it had not been for the powerful fog lights we had on the ambulance."

The peak of the journey came when the ambulance crossed the White Bridge and entered the swirling floodwater, which was rushing across the roadway on the Dubbo side. The water was recorded to be about 18 inches to two feet deep.

Mid-way across, the water rushed around the engine threatening to stall it, which would have left them and their patient stranded in the midstream.

However luckily the engine kept turning over and Mrs Wilcoxson was delivered safely to hospital at 4am.

At the time the Dubbo Liberal reported her condition was satisfactory, and would be operated on the next morning.

Two days prior to the incident, the newspaper reported the Macquarie River at Dubbo was rising at a rate of a foot an hour.

"With the river slowly spreading over the flat land near Warren the water might not be able to disperse quickly enough to avoid another flood, Mr FWK Wise told the Dubbo Liberal on October 26.

Two months earlier, in August 1950 headlines said flooding in the Warren district had broken all previous Macquarie River height records. The April floods had raised the river to 31 feet 10 inches which lasted for seven days.

However From July 1 through to August 9 - a period of 40 days - the average height of the river was 30 feet 11 inches.

Prior to 1950 the record height of the river was 30 feet 11 inches.

Little did anyone know what was to come in 1955.