Two police officers hailed as heroes after saving man from flood waters
Two brave police officers are being hailed as heroes after risking their lives in neck-deep water to save a man trapped in a sinking ute.
Constables Lindsay Morgan and Ryan Blume-Poulton both miraculously managed to pull the man from the submerged vehicle in rapidly rising flood waters in South Windsor on the outskirts of Sydney.
The dramatic rescue was sparked by an emergency call from a witness who saw the ute in trouble and noticed a 'flicker' in the window, which he quickly realised was a person.
“He said he only had six inches between the water rising and the roof and due to his age and the pressure against the car door, he couldn't get it open,” according to Probationary Constables Lindsay Morgan.
Footage shows the officers frantically trying to crack the window open. However, after eight attempts to break the window with both rocks and their batons failed, one officer noticed the door was slightly cracked just enough for them to get their fingertips in and wench it open.
The officers said the water was so high at points they had to swim and found themselves hitting fences completely submerged they couldn't see.
"You just don't know what is under the water, crossing fences you couldn't even see... at one point we were swimming across a lake," Probationary Constable Ryan Blume-Poulton said.
“We needed to get to him, that's what we are there for, that's what we signed up for, he needed us and there was no one else,” an officer said.
The man who called in the emergency said if it wasn't for the brave officers the man would have been lost.
The rescue comes as Sydney's and large parts of NSW have suffered immense storms with an astonishing weekend of rain. Authorities have warned the floodwaters will take up to a week to recede even if the rain eases.
The Hawkesbury River at Windsor reached major flood levels for the third time within months, peaking at 14m on Tuesday morning - above the 13.8m level recorded in March.
Image: Nine News