A Reporter Sent to Cover Floods Near Brisbane Swims Out to Pull a Driver From a Sinking Ute

MORAYFIELD, Australia - Will Murray had come to Buchanan Road on Thursday, Oct. 22, to report on the flash flooding soaking south-east Queensland. Shortly after 10 a.m., he watched a four-wheel drive ute pass a "road flooded" warning sign, stall halfway across the water and begin to float, and within minutes the ABC reporter was swimming toward it with a stranger to pull the driver out, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

About 170 millimetres of rain had fallen in the area, north of Brisbane, since that morning, the broadcaster reported. Mr. Murray and his colleague, the camera operator Liz Pickering, were filming the flooded road when the driver went in.

"I saw him drive in and immediately his car started floating downstream so I rang Triple Zero," Mr. Murray told the ABC, referring to Australia's emergency number. The operator asked whether he could see the driver and whether he thought the man could get free. "Initially I could see him, but he disappeared from my sight within seconds so I made the call to jump in," he said.

He handed the phone to Ms. Pickering, still connected to the emergency line, and started swimming. Daniel Hainey, who had been out with his family when he saw the ute, followed him into the water. Mr. Hainey said he had not realised anyone was inside until he saw the window move. "The car began to slowly sink deeper and deeper, and that's when I thought, 'Oh no, this is not looking good,'" he told the ABC, "so I started swimming in there."

The nearest door would not open. "When we got to the car we tried to open the closest door, no luck, then got on the back of the car with the thought to break the back window," Mr. Murray said. "I thought to try the passenger side rear door first and put my feet against the car and pulled as hard as I could and with some luck the door swung open. I think water rushing in helped create some pressure to force the door open."

The driver made his way to the open door, and the two men pulled him to safety and into shallow water. An ABC analysis of Ms. Pickering's footage found that only about 90 seconds passed between the moment the rescuers entered the water and the moment the vehicle's roof went under. About six minutes after the ute entered the floodwater, it had disappeared beneath the surface.

"All three of us gave each other a big hug and were just so relieved," Mr. Murray said. "It was very scary, but happy everyone is safe and relieved it is OK."

Ms. Pickering, who captured the rescue on video, was unequivocal. "The pair of them definitely saved that man's life," she told the ABC. "No doubt about that." Mr. Hainey said the driver had been "very, very lucky."

Emergency services arrived about 10 minutes after the rescue, Mr. Murray said. The driver told the two men that he had not seen the signage and had not realised how deep the water was. Mr. Murray said he had not been able to tell either. "That's the lesson we keep hearing, isn't it, that you can't tell and you really couldn't," he said. "It didn't look particularly severe."

Asked about being called a hero, Mr. Murray turned the attention to the people who do this work for a living, saying the morning had given him a greater respect for emergency services. "The adrenaline is still very, very high," he said. "I don't know how people do this regularly."

He also had a plea. "I just witnessed how quickly it can go south and it is terrifying," he said. "Please don't drive into floodwaters."

Safety experts are clear that the rescue, however brave, is not a model to copy. The Queensland Fire Department advises all residents not to swim in floodwater, the ABC reported. Amy Peden, a senior research fellow in the School of Population Health at the University of New South Wales, told the broadcaster that would-be rescuers sometimes drown trying to help, and that the best course is not to put yourself at risk and to call for help as quickly as possible. "The safest car in floodwater is the one that never enters it," she said.

The ABC framed the footage as a stark demonstration of a message that flood safety experts repeat year after year: "If it's flooded, forget it."

Sources: ABC News, "ABC reporter and bystander rescue man from sinking car in floodwater near Brisbane," Oct. 22, 2026: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-22/qld-abc-reporter-will-murray-rescues-man-from-floodwater/107296246 ; ABC News video, "Will Murray floodwater rescue," Oct. 22, 2026: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-22/will-murray-floodwater-rescue/107296594 ; ABC News Story Lab, "Gone in less than six minutes: Watch as floodwaters swallow 4WD," by Hanan Dervisevic, Jarrod Fankhauser and Jessica Riga, Oct. 24, 2026: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-24/watch-floodwaters-swallow-four-wheel-drive-in-six-minutes/107302040