Water EWE doing there? Touching moment a lost sheep swept up in rising floodwaters is rescued by emergency volunteers
- SES volunteers have rescued flood-trapped sheep on NSW’s Central Coast
- A heartwarming video on Facebook shows an animal being brought ashore
- It comes as heavy rainfall is expected to batter the NSW coastline until Tuesday
Lost sheep swept up in rising floodwaters have been rescued and returned to land by volunteers.
A video of a rescue in Gosford, on the Central Coast in New South Wales, was shared to Facebook on Friday.
The footage showed volunteers pulling a sheep from a swollen river, and helping it return to safety.
Two emergency volunteers pulled a sheep to safety from an enlarged river on Friday
Two men were seen tugging one of the animals through torso-deep water, while a third man further down stream followed them with an inflatable boat.
Once close to shore, the men released the sheep and it made its way to shore.
NSW State Emergency Services said in the video’s caption that their volunteers are well trained and urged others not to enter floodwaters.
‘We don’t just help two legged Coasties. Today our volunteers got called to rescue some sheep who had become trapped due to flash flooding,’ it read.
‘Entering floodwaters is a last resort even for our skilled volunteers, and they ensure, if they have to enter floodwaters, to do so as safely as possible.’
There are currently more than 650 volunteers responding to 1815 emergency jobs across the state, with more calls expected throughout the weekend.
A severe weather warning was issued for much of the NSW coast on Friday, stretching 1000km from Brisbane to Sydney, as a coastal trough made its way down the northern New South Wales coast.
The sheep shook off its coat and quickly jumped onto the land once the men brought it to the shore line
Heavy rainfall and damaging winds are expected to hit the Mid North Coast, Metropolitan, Illawarra and parts of Northern Rivers, Hunter, Central Tablelands and Northern Tablelands the next two days.
The NSW SES has set up sandbag collection points and has urged residents to prepare their homes, property and yards by securing loose items.
Torrential rainfall across the east coast is expected to last until at least Tuesday and forecasters have warned that there was an increased risk of flooding in Sydney and the rest of the NSW coastline.
A crew of SES volunteers gathered by the riverside on Friday to set up a sheep-rescue operation