Helicopter lands on houseboat as part of flood rescue in New South Wales

In an event which has stunned not only commoners but also the Marine Rescue officers, a helicopter landed on the top of a houseboat to rescue people stuck amid floods. The event happened in Australia’s New South Wales wherein Marine Rescue NSW (MRNSW) was called to help two people stuck on a houseboat. The houseboat was drifting into the river at Gunderman about 85km north of Sydney, international media reported. 

Boat's top designed like helipad

Soon after their arrival, the rescue officers found that a large tree had struck underneath the anchor, mooring and winch of the houseboat which had drifted about 30km from Lowe Portland. In their first attempts, they tried to pull the log off from vessel but the rope actually snapped. After several failed attempts, the houseboat’s skipper told the rescue officials that a chopper that he owned was en route to help and it would land on the top of their boat. The top of the boat was surprisingly designed like a helipad, international media reported. 

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Talking about the bizarre incident, MRNSW’s Sarah Adair told international media that she was thinking ‘ Who is this? Is this Batman?" She further said that it was amazing to be a witness to the whole operation. Shortly, after the helicopter arrived two people leapt out and rescued them. Adair said that she had never seen a helicopter on the top of a boat.

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This comes as heavy rains lashed Australia's East Coast on January 9. While the fires helped put out some major remaining wildfires, they also caused widespread flash floods. According to reports, the rain extinguished the Currowan fire just south of Sydney. Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told media that he hopes the rains will move inland. The Curran fire which burned for 74 days, reportedly destroyed 312 homes and razed 5,000 square kilometres of land and was finally put out thanks to the rains. There are still some major wildfires inland that have burned for months.

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