News

This week the NSW SES launched a 6 week social media campaign featuring compelling emotional real stories that focus on people’s near misses as a result of entering floodwater.

Over the 6 weeks, we will meet Sonya, Tom, Jaime and Peter who feature in the stories.

They are all real people (not paid actors) who have shown tremendous bravery in sharing their story in the hope that people will not put theirs and other peoples’ lives at risk by entering floodwater.

The campaign also features Mad Matt, a 4WD enthusiast and David King, a NSW SES volunteer.

The approach to the stories is based on the trends emerging from recent research including:

• An analysis of human fatalities from floods 1900-2015 (Haynes et al, 2016)
• Stronger for the Storm (Howard et al., 2016) (not yet available)

These videos explore different perspectives of:

• A mother that crossed a flooded river based on pressure from her passengers
• A farmer that nearly drowned after entering floodwater to rescue cattle
• A young man that entered floodwater to impress girls in the car
• A mother that turned around based on fear of putting the lives of her children at risk
• A 4WD enthusiast and his experience crossing creeks and rivers
• An SES member and his experiences rescuing people from floodwater

Floodwater is very dangerous, the major cause of death during floods is by people entering floodwater. This includes driving, riding and walking through floodwater and children playing in floodwater.

Floodwater is filled with debris, bacteria and much more that could cause illness and even death. Roads and surfaces can also be washed away, and not be seen from the surface. Entering flood water by any means exposes you to these scenarios and can lead to extreme results.

So remember if it's flooded, forget it.

Picture: Sonya - A mother that crossed a flooded river based on pressure from her passengers