A four-year-old boy and two women have been rescued by a police officer using just a rope and a winch after their vehicle became submerged in floodwaters in the NSW Hunter region.
Authorities were told three people had become trapped in a vehicle at a flooded causeway on Lyons Road at Bingleburra, west of the country town of Dungog, about 9.30am on Thursday.
A senior constable soon arrived on the scene, where he saw a black SUV stranded in the swirling current, which was about five metres across.
"Using a rope as a safety line, (the officer) entered the floodwater and made his way to the vehicle," NSW Police said in a statement.
He and a 51-year-old woman with the SUV worked together to pull a four-year-old boy through the window and to safe ground.
The officer then waded back into the water to free the 51-year-old, whose foot was caught on a rock.
After attaching a winch to the SUV to stabilise it, he went back into the water to help a 44-year-old woman trapped inside the vehicle.
She and the young boy were physically uninjured and treated by paramedics for shock.
The officer is being considered for a bravery award, police said.
Flooding is affecting multiple parts of NSW, as a dangerous weather system that hit inland parts of the state tracks east to the coast.
Flood warnings are current in the Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast and Hunter regions, where the rescue occurred.
Police have urged members of the public not to drive through floodwaters and avoid non-essential travel.
Australian Associated Press
