Fishing club comes to the rescue to help flood hero

A Good Samaritan whose outboard motor was damaged beyond repair as he worked to rescue people stranded by the February floods at Deception Bay will have it replaced thanks to the generosity of Caboolture River Fishing and Boating Club members.

Danny Agnew was ferrying people to safety around his home in Samantha Court and Major St when his motor rammed against a hidden car, damaging the propeller.

“On the third trip back, most of the cars were floating so I could dodge in and out, but there was one small red car in Major St that was submerged,” Danny recalls.

“I had my motor locked down, which you’re not meant to do, but everything happened so quickly and the prop just jammed into the side of the car and just ceased working.

“Luckily I didn’t have anybody with me – I was on my way back (to rescue more people).”

Danny managed to float the boat back to his house before joining other neighbours to use floats and tyres to get people to safety.

Touching tale

Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Peter Flannery and Councillor Sandra Ruck (Div 5) found out about Danny and his neighbours’ heroics after visiting stricken properties around Deception Bay the day after the floods and were determined to do something to replace the motor.

They contacted the Caboolture River Fishing Club to see if they could help through their networks.

“The flood waters came up so quickly and had such a force to them that people couldn’t get out of their properties to safety so (Danny) had a little dinghy in the back of his yard with a motor on it and started putting people in it and moving people into a safe area,” Mayor Flannery says.

“The SES couldn’t get in to rescue these people so he took it on his own back with a few other residents to try and help as many people – aged, elderly and frail.

“I felt so passionate about him providing this kind of service to the community and going above and beyond what we expect from our neighbours I wanted to try and help him out and work out what we could do to replace the motor for him.

“He’s a champion of the community.”

Helping hand

Caboolture River Fishing and Boating Club vice president Joe Sovenyhazi says members were more than happy to help Danny, voting to raise the money to replace his outboard motor.

“There’s a saying that water floats boats, but it sinks boats too and unfortunately Danny came a little bit to grief with that,” Joe says.

“The members all got together and between the whole lot of them it was unanimous and the club raised $2000 towards helping Danny out in his situation.”

Danny plans to host a barbecue for his neighbours with any leftover funds.

“The fishing club are fantastic guys so I really, really appreciate it and there will be other people in the street that do too,” he says

“This will be shared among them – I am absolutely amazed – I never expected anything like that.”