His exploits have gone far beyond the borders of Australia. We find them even in the pages of the British daily The Guardianand even Indian Express. And for good reason, its story illustrates the natural disaster that Australia is currently enduring, drowned in torrential rains, with floods that go from Brisbane in the East to Sydney, in the South, where Thursday, March 3, 500,000 people were ordered to evacuate, to leave their homes. The water has sometimes risen to the roofs of homes, and that’s what happened to Aidan Ricketts, a 40-something Lismore resident and law school professor. “My house was built precisely to withstand a hundred-year floodhe told local channel 9Now. When it started to rain, I just thought we’d be knee-deep in water, but by five o’clock in the morning, the mud got in and it went up to the ceiling.“
During historic floods in Australia, Aidan Ricketts lost his home.
Instead of worrying, he decided to go out on his boat and help people. He’s rescued sixteen people and five dogs so far.
This is what heroes look like.
—Goodable (@Goodable) March 2, 2022
Two meters of water, three meters in places, Aidan Ricketts therefore just had time to get his small canoe out of his garage, to embark with his family and to abandon his house. “And there, since I obviously had nothing else to do, well I went to see if anyone needed help..” And he found many of them, sheltered on their roofs. Thanks to the canoe, he rescued first one person, then two, then a family of six, and still others, all taken to a hill. In total, Aidan Ricketts saved 16 people and five dogs, some of whom escaped at the last minute through the windows, a 90-year-old woman for example, lying on her mattress which was floating only 20 centimeters from the ceiling.
“Here in Australia, and specifically in Lismore, we are used to heavy rains, but I had never seen that in my life, and I don’t see what kind of house could have endured such an event. We found ourselves at the heart of an extreme climatic event, as there are now almost everywhere in the world.” comments Aidan Ricketts. On Tuesday, March 1, after 48 hours of uninterrupted rescue, Lismore’s hero finally went to sleep, “Because you have to know when to stop, although I have to say it’s a bit like an addiction, you help one person and then you see five others calling you, you can’t not go back.” Since last week, twelve people have died in these floods considered 2.5 times more intense than usual, according to the Australian weather services.