The Land Rover LifeFlight Special Mission helicopter crew has performed multiple winch missions to conduct welfare checks at flooded properties across the Northern Rivers region, to make sure everyone is safe. (Today, 4th March)
Tasked by New South Wales State Emergency Service (NSW SES), as part of the ongoing effort to ensure everyone is safe and accounted for, the crew winched the Flight Paramedic down to several homes, still completely surrounded by water, in order to carry out these checks.
Once at each home, the Paramedic conducted a thorough search for anyone remaining.
In some cases, the floodwaters had receded enough to allow the chopper to land.
The crew also conducted many checks from the air, with isolated people signaling that they were safe.
The specially trained team have been performing these types of missions over the past couple of days.
Fortunately, they have not come across anybody in need of immediate rescue.
The helicopter is usually based in Queensland, but is currently operating out of Ballina, after it was tasked by NSW SES, to support their response to the flooding emergency.
Anticipating the requirement, NSW SES strategically prepositioned the chopper in the region on Friday 25th February, ready for quick response.
Over the week, the Land Rover LifeFlight Special Mission helicopter crew have come to the aid of dozens of people in need – including rescuing stranded residents from homes and moving unwell people to medical care.
Every detail of the Land Rover LifeFlight Special Mission helicopter is specifically designed for emergency response deployment.
The aircraft is part of LifeFlight Australia’s commercial operation, which supports the work of the community helicopter fleet, through our profit-for-purpose model.
In the 2021 Calendar Year, RACQ LifeFlight Rescue’s community helicopters, Air Ambulance jets, Critical Care Doctors, Flight Nurses and Flight Paramedics came to the aid of 6,846 people.