A drunk man who drove his partner and two young children into flood waters during the aftermath of cyclone Debbie called police saying they needed help before fleeing.
Police found the family, with children aged four and six, after they managed to free themselves from the flooded vehicle in Ipswich, Queensland about 8:30pm Thursday.
The man, who is now facing a drink-driving charge, freed himself and called 000 when he realised his family was in trouble, police say.
The man then fled the scene as flood waters reached the roof line of the car.
“When police arrived the driver had run from the scene. Police located an adult female and two young kids … they managed to get out of the vehicle but obviously were quite distressed,” a police spokeswoman told AAP.
“The vehicle was submerged and the water has risen pretty quickly and had reached the roof. The car couldn’t be retrieved.”
When the man was found, he had a blood alcohol reading of .09.
When mixed with Queensland’s cyclone and flood crisis, the man’s drunk driving alongside other people’s behaviour was deemed “foolish and stupid” by State Disaster Coodinator Stephan Gollschewski.
“We had a person rescued last night that had driven into waters with family members and that person was charged with drink driving afterwards,” he said.
“This causes enormous risk to our community and all the emergency services responders.”
