NSW floods helicopter rescue: Glenthorne locals plucked from rooftop after being stranded for over six hours

Unbelievable footage has surfaced showing residents on the NSW Mid North Coast being rescued after waiting more than six hours to be saved by emergency services.

The gripping scene of a Glenthorne woman being collected by an NSW Police Rescue helicopter has circulated on social media.

The woman in the video, Holly Pillotto, had been agonisingly waiting with other Glenthorne residents, Sam and Jordan Halloran, and their two-year-old son, Zaphyr.

Mr Halloran shared the harrowing video on Facebook, confirming that his family and their two dogs were “all out and safe.”

“Can’t thank everyone enough for your kind words and efforts to help us,” he wrote.

“Huge thanks to the NSW Police Rescue and the SES for getting us out safely. Now we wait to go home eventually and assess our losses and start over.”

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Mr Halloran expressed his frustration that he was waiting six hours to be rescued from his Glenthorne property.

“Is there anyone with a boat that can launch at South Taree... and come and get my wife and little boy in Glenthorne before our top floor goes under? Been waiting on SES for 6.6 hours,” he wrote on Facebook.

Mr Halloran also shared dramatic scenes of cars completely engulfed by flood waters in his front yard.

His wife and their two-year-old son were picked up by an SES boat earlier today.

The Manning River is flooding at a level never seen before at Taree, surpassing the 1929 record of six metres early Wednesday morning, and is still rising.

More than 16,000 people are expected to be isolated, forcing residents to seek refuge on their roofs as they seek higher ground.

NSW SES State Duty Commander, Assistant Commissioner Colin Malone said emergency service partners along with the SES were responding to rescue requests as quickly as possible.

“Through the night, teams have undertaken a significant number of rescues at Taree, Port Macquarie and Ghini Ghini,” Assistant Commissioner Malone said.

“This is a dynamic situation where a number of evacuation warnings were issued through Tuesday and overnight, with residents door knocked as well. The NSW SES and our emergency service partners are deploying every available asset to assist with these rescues.

“Unfortunately, we’ve also had a large number of calls for help in areas that were subject to evacuation warnings and we are still assessing how best to access those locations. We’ve advised those people needing assistance to move to higher ground, as we’re unable to currently access by boat, road or air due to the current weather conditions.”

Emergency warnings are in place advising residents to evacuate immediately at Manning Point while it’s too late to leave for those in parts of Wingham, Taree and Dumaresq Island.

Emergency warnings are also in place advising people to evacuate for Coopernook, Bulahdelah, Gloucester Caravan Park, Ferndale Caravan Park, parts of Paterson and parts of Dungog.

For help in floods and storms contact the NSW SES on 132 500 or in life-threatening situations call Triple Zero (000).