The incredible moment the Australian Defence Force (ADF) used a helicopter to rescue three people from floodwaters in northern NSW has been caught on camera.
Mark O'Toole was stranded on the roof of a property near the town of Woodburn with his son, who lives with a disability, and elderly neighbour.
Mr O'Toole's father, Terry, told ABC North Coast about the sleepless night he had before his son was rescued.
An ADF crew member could be seen being lowered from the helicopter and onto the roof in a precarious operation that took about 40 terrifying minutes.
The rescuer strapped Mark's son in harness, before he was hoisted into the air, and inside the chopper to safety.
Shortly afterwards, another rescuer jumped from the helicopter and saved Mark and his 78-year-old neighbour.
The pair could be seen clinging to the corrugated iron roof, barely able to move amid an intense wind created by the helicopter's blades.
From the rescue chopper, Mark told ABC the exhausting experience of fleeing the floodwater now spread across his entire property.
"I'm watching all my kids' and my possessions float past me," he said.
"I'm losing everything."
The Woodburn local rushed to his neighbour's house with his son on Monday evening as floodwater began rising rapidly.
The trio spent the night in a tinny tied to the roof of Mark's house.
By the time the ADF helicopter arrived on Tuesday, Mark was seriously concerned about the welfare of his neighbour and his son.
"We hadn't had no water. No nothing," he said.
"My Neighbour has been having trouble breathing this morning because she hasn't had her asthma puffer."
There was a mishap as Mark's neighbour was about to be saved when her harness became tangled in an antenna in mid-air.
The attempt had to be aborted and the duo was lowered back to the roof while the harness was freed.
Eventually, they were hoisted to safety, leaving just Mark remaining on the roof, who was saved shortly afterwards.
The incredible retrieval is just one of hundreds of rescue missions being carried out across northern NSW today as many people remain trapped by severe floodwaters.
ADF personnel from across the country were deployed to the region yesterday as the State Emergency Service (SES) and emergency services were stretched.
Yesterday, the SES conducted about 1,000 flood rescues in northern NSW, most of which were in Lismore.
