Australian surfing legend Mick Fanning has swapped his board for a jet ski to help rescue flood-affected locals alongside fellow surfer Joel Parkinson.
The three-time world champion dusted off the wetsuit on Tuesday to lend a hand to stranded residents in Murwillumbah on NSW’s north coast.
He responded to a call out on social media by pharmacist Skye Swift, who needed a ride from Tweed to Murwillumbah to ensure residents had access to vital medication.
Australian surfing legend Mick Fanning has swapped his board for a jetski to give local pharmacist Skye Swift a lift (pictured)
However, Ms Swift was in for a shock when the surfing legend showed up on his jet ski to chauffeur her through floodwaters.
Fellow world champion Australian surfer Joel Parkinson also rescued dozens of people stranded from the Queensland floods on his jet ski on Monday and Tuesday.
But when Parkinson returned home ‘exhausted’ to the Gold Coast, he found his home had been broken into and wife Monica’s car had been taken.
Former world champion surfer Joel Parkinson returned home after rescuing flood victims from a rampaging Tweed River to find thieves had stolen his wife Monica’s car
Parkinson helped rescue dozens of people from rising flood waters on his jet ski around Tumbulgum and Murwillumbah in Queensland
South-east Queensland and north-east NSW are in the midst of a once-in-century flooding crisis with dozens of river systems overwhelming low lying communities after unprecedented rains.
‘All day I’d been helping people who were close to losing their lives and their houses and I came home to that,’ Parkinson told the Courier Mail.
While many people were trying to help, others ‘just want to do bad’, he said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday said reports of looting from the houses of flood victims were ‘unbelievable’
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described looting property from flood victim as ‘unbelievable’.
‘The last thing [residents’ need to be worried about is someone climbing into their house … just stop it,’ she said.
The statae’s police minister Mark Ryan described looters as ‘grubs’.
Parkinson, 40, and several surfer mates including fellow former world champion Mick Fanning helped people and pets from flooded homes at Tumbulgum and Murwillumbah.
Like many locals with watercraft, Parkinson and Fanning launched their jet skis from the Tweed River and rode to many homes in the low-lying riverside communities.
Parkinson reckons they saved up to 40 people, six dogs, three cats and some chickens.
‘I’ve rescued cats, dogs, I’ve had 10-15 people on my ski, it’s been hectic, just picking people people up, getting to higher ground,’ he said in a video.
On video Parkinson can be heard saying the house in this footage is a two-storey home – and he was riding over vehicles to reach it
‘We went to one farmhouse that I thought was one-storey. the water was so high.
‘But it was actually two storeys and I was jet skiing over their cars to get to them,’ Parkinson told the Courier Mail.
In one rescue, Parkinson retrieved a man from a treehouse as well as a woman, her four-year old child and their dog.
Parkinson and Fanning were joined in the jet ski rescues by fellow surfers Bede Durbidge, Mikey Wright and comedian Celeste Barber’s husband, Api Robin.
Parkinson said he could never look at the Tweed river the same way again, claiming he’d never seen it so flooded.
Former NRL superstar Greg Inglis, meanwhile, has expressed fears for family members stranded by floods in northern NSW.
Inglis told the Daily Telegraph he had spent a sleepless night worrying about family members who live in Nambucca, Macksville, Ballina, Grafton and Lismore.
‘I’ve been following the rain radar because I’m worried about it,’ he said.
‘I was just up there to see my family on Sunday on they are about to rain bombed.
‘My friends and family have been desperately trying to get sandbags.
‘I think that’s the hardest part, you see what is going on and you want to do something but you can’t. You feel helpless.’
