Carnarvon floods: Bianca and Sandra Pool trapped in car for 24 hours by rising floodwaters near Minilya

As raging floodwaters tore away parts of North West Coastal Highway, a mother and daughter were forced to wait 24 hours in their car surrounded by the rising murky orange deluge before rescuers arrived. Bianca Pool and her mother Sandra Pool were travelling from Broome to Perth last Wednesday, and became stranded near Minilya roadhouse, 120km north of Carnarvon. “During the night, we couldn’t sleep. Every half an hour we checked and saw (the water) was still rising,” Bianca said. “When we passed the roadhouse we came up to a (smaller) flood. Then we drove up 2km around the bend and a second (flood) was there. I got out of the car and walked a couple of metres and it was already over my knees. “It was flash flooding and it happens in a couple of minutes. Our car could have been submerged in the broken part of the road.” Their close call comes as Department of Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm confirmed today the flood waters were starting to recede, revealing the first signs of relief had arrived sooner than expected. Bianca said luckily before they passed the roadhouse they had bought some snacks, so they didn’t get hungry while waiting for help. Eventually Coral Coast Helicopter Service pilot Justin Borg came to their rescue. He took them to a safer stretch of the road where they spent the night with a group of stranded truck drivers. They were finally flown to Carnarvon on Friday by an RAC helicopter on Friday ending their two-day ordeal. DFES rescued 38 people from the floodwaters, and Mr Borg said DFES staff were vital to keeping people safe. But, it took days for the RAC helicopter to get the region, and he said he should have been tasked with rescues in the meantime, saying he could have gotten to people faster if he was dialled in and alerted to emergencies as they were reported. “Look, worst case scenario people could have died,” he said. Mr Borg was not sent by DFES, and he said bureaucratic rules obstructed him from doing all he could for his community. “We weren’t prepared to leave those ladies in their vehicle with rushing water lapping at their door,” Mr Borg said. He said they were “more than capable of rescuing people”, but rules, regulations and “bureaucracy” got in the way. They were not tasked with any rescues. The Coral Coast Helicopter Services chopper spent the next few days flying around assisting community members and businesses in need of a hand. “A lot of the jobs we do are love jobs for the community. It’s part of our community service. without them we wouldn’t be here,” he said. DFES has been contacted for comment. This afternoon Mr Klemm said disaster relief would be coming to the region as soon as was feasible. “They peaked at at 7.1m at Nine Mile Bridge there just outside of Carnarvon, and we're actually seeing the flood waters recede a bit quicker than it was first predicted they would,” he said. “We're in very close contact with EMA about activating disaster relief again like we've done with (the) Wooroloo (bushfire). “I hope to be able to do that in the next day or so, but that doesn't prevent works from going on and I know that Main Roads are very well advanced with the repairs to the 10km of the North West Coastal Highway that have been damaged and they're ready to go, and whether the DRF has been activated before then or not is not going to affect that. “We're working with local government. DFES has had an instant management team there since last weekend (January 30-31), working closely with them, making sure we're going through all the pieces if damage have occurred and helping out the local government.”