Flood rescue

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 2

Flood rescue

f.V.Z. Press Association) HAMILTON, Feb. 7. A Hamilton couple, holidaying on Queensland’s Gold Coast, were rescued by boat during the recent floods caused by Hurricane Wanda. Mr and Mrs A. Cope were staying with their daughter and her husband at Mermaid Waters when the floods came. “We had 23 inches of rain in 24 hours and when we left the house to stand on a roadway, water was up to our waists. There were waves running you could surf on and the wind was blowing between 50 and 60 knots,” Mr Cope said today. “We stood on the road with our 12-year-old granddaughter Michele, holding her cat above her head,

until I saw a boat and signalled it. We were taken to a point where smaller boats took us to the local surf club rooms.” Mr Cope said the family, along with about 100 other people, spent two days at the rooms before going home. “We were lucky to be picked up. We were in a new area and rescuers thought the houses were unoccupied.” Mr Cope spoke highly of the courage of surf club members. Some went out at night on surf boards looking for people. When he left, Mr Cope said his daughter was cleaning up her home -r--but he has not heard how she and her family fared during Cyclone Pam, which hit the coast this week.