People drove through flood waters during wild storm weather on the Northern Rivers over the weekend, despite numerous official emergency warnings, keeping volunteer rescuers busy.
State Emergency Services (SES) volunteers rescued a man and woman from a flooding creek in Uki after they tried to drive a ute across a causeway whilst towing a caravan.
A video showing part of the incident was on the Higgins Storm Chasing Facebook page.
Also in the Tweed Shire, volunteers rescued a couple and a child in Cougal after the trio tried to drive through flood waters.
An SES spokesman Monday morning could only share limited details of the five rescues carried out across five local government areas on the Northern Rivers: Byron, Tweed, Ballina, Lismore and Richmond Valley.
Rescues started happening on Saturday, with volunteers carrying out the last one at 3am Sunday, the spokesman said.
As well as the three flood rescues in the Tweed Shire, there was one in Nimbin and one in Brunswick Heads.
Flood rescues don’t include all volunteer emergency call-outs, with the SES responding to 302 all up, mostly in relation to storm damage.
Wetlands on show, events postponed
Wind speeds of 100 kilometres per hour were recorded at Cape Byron Saturday morning and beaches were closed owing to dangerous surf conditions.
Various roads were closed across the region Saturday, including the route between Bangalow and the southern end of Byron Bay through Coopers Shoot and Hayters Hill, as tree branches and sometimes whole trees fell.
Wetland areas lived up to their names in full glory, with parts of Ewingsdale, Tyagarah and the Tweed Valley resembling lakes at various times throughout the weekend, albeit lakes dotted with trees.
Many events were cancelled or postponed, including Friday’s Lismore Cup horse races, Saturday’s Open Skies Family Day BBQ at the North Byron Hotel in Sunrise, and Sunday’s spring plant fair in the Mullumbimby Community Gardens.
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