Heroic Reporter Rescues Drowning Man in Flood

Sandbags stacked near a flooded street with rescue workers in a boat — Photo: Marc Bruxelle / Shutterstock

A television crew filming floods ended up saving a driver as his car slipped under brown water near Brisbane.

Story Snapshot

Video shows reporter Will Murray and a bystander pulling a driver from a sinking four-wheel-drive moments before it vanished.
ABC camera operator Liz Pickering filmed the rescue and said the pair saved the man’s life.
The rescue happened on Buchanan Road in Morayfield after heavy rain and rising floodwater.
Queensland safety guidance warns people never to enter floodwater, which causes many deaths each year.

Rescue unfolds in seconds on a flooded suburban road

Will Murray, a reporter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was filming flood impacts when a four-wheel-drive stalled in deep water on Buchanan Road in Morayfield, north of Brisbane. The vehicle began to sink. Murray handed his phone to his camera operator, Liz Pickering, and swam out. Another man joined him. Together they reached the car, opened a rear passenger door, and pulled the driver free just before the car slipped under the surface.

Footage captured the urgent sequence as the roofline dipped and the current pushed the car sideways. Pickering’s camera held steady through rain and shouts. She later said, “Those two undoubtedly saved that man’s life.” The driver, who has not been named, made it to shallower water with help from the rescuers and bystanders at the scene. The precise time, water depth, and current speed were not stated in the reports, but the water was visibly fast and opaque.

What the reporter says he did in the water

Murray described the moment he chose to go. He said he swam straight to the car, tried a door, and then forced open the rear passenger-side door. He said the driver moved toward them as the water rose inside. Murray and the other rescuer guided the man out and toward the edge. He credited the bystander who swam with him and the crew on shore who kept sightlines and called for help. His account aligns with the video and on-site witness statements.

Reports consistently place the rescue on Buchanan Road, with a four-wheel-drive that stalled before sinking. The area had been hit by intense rain. Multiple outlets described the same details and the same sequence, drawing on the footage and Pickering’s on-camera observations from the flooded street. The identity of the second rescuer was not given, but reports agree that he entered the water and helped remove the driver from the rear passenger area.

Danger in floodwater: why seconds mattered

Morayfield had been soaked by heavy rain, with emergency services warning people to stay out of floodwater. State guidance in Queensland is blunt: never drive, walk, or swim through floodwater, and “If it’s flooded, forget it.” Officials say driving into floodwater is the leading cause of flood-related deaths in the state. That base rate explains why the car’s fast submersion posed a lethal risk and why a trapped driver can run out of time in minutes, not hours.

Flooded roads can hide washouts, debris, and strong undercurrents. Even shallow, fast water can move a vehicle and pin doors. Air pockets vanish as water pressure builds. That is why trained responders often break windows rather than fight sealed doors. In this case, Murray says a rear door opened, which can happen when pressure inside starts to equalize as the cabin fills. The video shows the car nearly gone as the driver exits, which fits that physics under stress.

What this says about duty, risk, and common sense

This rescue shows two things at once: human courage and the cruel math of floods. Murray and the bystander did what most people hope they would do if someone was about to drown. At the same time, public guidance exists for a reason. Floodwater kills. The sane rule in most cases is to stay out, call Triple Zero, and direct trained crews to the scene. Personal heroism does not repeal risk, but it can beat the clock when no other option is left.

An Australian television reporter and a bystander pulled a man from his car moments before it disappeared beneath floodwater north of Brisbane on Thursday.

ABC journalist Will Murray was covering the floods in Queensland when a four-wheel drive stalled in deep water and began to… pic.twitter.com/M5ZL8Vr5be

— AnewZ (@Anewz_tv) October 22, 2026

The plain takeaway is simple and useful. Do not drive into floodwater. If you see someone trapped, call for help and look for safer tools first: a rope, a stick, a flotation device, a throw bag. Keep eyes on the victim and tell them to stay calm. If a person will drown before help arrives and you are truly capable, you may choose to go. That choice carries weight. On Buchanan Road, two men made it count.