Trucks Drive Head-On Into Deep Flood Waters

[Applause] turbos bogged in Raging floodwaters there is a hell of car on it it's just pulling you like you wouldn't believe if he can't free his wheels from the river's muddy grip this could be the last resting place for his $90,000 truck it's 3:40 a.m. in Queensland can't Dennis Dent is leaving early to try and stay ahead of the weather with the wet season due to break at any time he must complete his, 1400 km run before the rain arrives but just a few hours into the journey his truck alerts him to a battery problem the light start flickering that means it's not charging you know it's a bad start to a long [Music] trip the alternator is a crucial part of the truck's electrical system supplies the power for the lights and the battery if Dennis can't fix it it could end his trip bloody batteries are dead flight you won't be able to [Music] start he's hoping the fault is just mud on his alternator brushes which help charge the truck's battery he needs to quickly find a replacement it's early days but already the whole trip hangs on one tiny spare part looks like I'll fix the [Music] problem with the truck back to full health Dennis can push on soon the road to Cape York is ahead with the wet season due it's oneway traffic apart from Dennis M M toys time always a l your [Music] own if the rains arrive Dennis risks getting strange when the wind comes on these roads it just deteri so quickly information about what's ahead is priceless out of phone range Dennis is relying on his fellow truckers are the truck drivers coming down tell you about the bad spots or what's happening and the News isn't good rain yday getting a bit rain up there what about down the track halfway through a vital report the radio's out of range Dennis is heading into the unknown did to keep it away from the Rocks so the Rocks Don't slice the tires we got to get the ribs right the gear right got to time it to Perfection hit the Steep drops too slowly and he'll get bogged going up the other side too fast and he risks serious damage to his truck you don't want to slam him down on the creek the final River Crossing is the steepest always worry about this Crossing Dennis has been bogged here before I me stuck on it for a long time but you know many trips as you doing here you always worry about it s make your hard pump finally through the worst Dennis's first delivery is just ahead in lockart River thanks to him contractor Steve Spencer can continue building work all year round well come to w season the roads are closed we rely on them it's what we need to get gear up here we're batching concrete flat out so without the powder there's no building going on throughout the wther we'll probably get an Aro storm and hopefully it doesn't mess the road up too much with a storm forecast for later Dennis's work is far from over for the return Journey he's picking up two 20 ton Steamrollers it's a simple job or at least it should be dead he's out of phone range and running out of patience this happens all the time bu but I give a you know don't come out to help you like things are going from bad to worse he's been given the wrong key with an afternoon storm on the way Dennis needs to get moving time to go back to basics instruction manual hopefully a little mechanical nouse will sort it all right now we got [Music] action fully loaded Denis is hauling nearly 60 tons when the rain comes these roads can turn into muddy bogs but the dry Dusty soil can be just as slippery ping a heavy load up a series of steep hills is a recipe for getting dry bog lose traction whe start spinning and that's the end but it's Dennis's only way out ahead is the steepest of the bunch he's been stuck here before to get up it Dennis must get the power down and fight the road for every meter ping 60 tons of dead white spner he needs to get out fast what a night before any rain can turn dust to Mud he's in luck two empty mining trucks have arrived if they can get ahead of Dennis they should be able to tow him [Music] out this little Hill boss the hills climbed another victim and now the road's completely blocked and this is steep here it's loose Daylight's fading fast and rain's due the stranded trucks must get out before dark a passing four-wheel drive volunteers to help it's up to a 2 and 1/2 ton car to haul a 30 t Road train free it's a long shot go go but their only chance no mate go up and take the slack up on the [Music] the empty mine truck has made it but with 60 tons on board pulling Dennis out will be a heavyweight battle this don't stand Too Close cuz of this chain snaps or touching the H off the high tension line has to pull 60 tons steady steady more gra but it's just too much I broke the chain mate it's a disaster the rain is imminent Dennis needs to give the chain one more try or risk his truck getting stranded here for months we right here you go together the three truckers have made it finally Dennis is heading home enjoy your be better when we here he's rised the weather battled the mud and the dust in some of the toughest Wilderness in Australia but out here is where Outback Legends are made Gordo and shu have hit a flooded 500 M stretch of highway freaking slow that could be safe to Cross or an accident waiting to happen oh he's just hit a hole hole there the ca got you buddy yeah um just a quarter Way Long there you probably seen me rock side Bes side a great big hole there on the way down half of your side's washed out no worries thanks a lot buddy you have a safe one okay no worries okay let's go and we got to go over this [Music] side so over this way you reckon swo Shu has to try to avoid the holes where the road has been washed out but if she drives too close to the edge of the bitchman she risks ending up in the river he was just about here and he went down a hole Yeah there usually ripples in the water when there where there's a hole you know that's rushing across you'll see sometimes there be a big Ripple and other times to be a small one in this way all right you get right over there yeah I know get over here okay I'm coming back over Gordo but the hole you be B all right I was trying to avoid the holes back this way a bit you getting over too far and I there's a h here yeah but you want to fall out in there I'd rather go into the hole and pull head and all right all right all right get [Music] they arrive at their destination the mining town of Newman just as it's being Savaged by the fringes of the Cyclone their job of dropping off trailers and hooking up new ones just got more stressful that's why that's the Why mying th guns that's why you got to go Jesus told you before they stand in front of the dolly so going to tell you where to go they need an address for another trailer pickup from the depot but it's deserted I knew it I knew he wouldn't remember the address and there's no address on here Shu and Gordo are at breaking point we're not running around the on the back trying to find another dead can't run around with a he listen I don't got good idea where it is so stop Gordo thinks he knows where the other trailer is it better be right this storm could close the road they came in on and they could be stuck up here for weeks went to toine residance this 3275 it's pitch black and they need to find the new location quickly [Music] okay back [Music] up okay do time you 8 mail what is the time 1:00 12:30 [Music] yeah it's early morning and after driving over 1,000 km to get here they're ready to turn around and do it all over again but they're barely out of town when there's more bad news the the road first I'm going to have to get off the road par I said I don't know where you going to go you pull up behind that one up there well we're stuck we um can't go anywhere we have to wait to the road open we're at Newman we're we're at beautiful downtown Newman at Capricorn Roadhouse and we've been here since 2:00 this morning and it is now what is the time it is now4 9 and the road is still closed and um the facilities up here are A1 believe you me there's nothing open nothing at all all Gordo and Shu can do is sit it out there's only one highway back to Perth and it's still underwater that's it once you've lost a day you've lost a day it's nothing nothing else you can do you just got to try and get around it as best as you can oh guess what fellas the bir's open run out of the swing [Music] after a long night it's a relief to be back on the road after months of being cut off there's a break in the weather roads have reopened and Jason's clients are desperate for his fuel this time of the year it's like playing Russian roulette when you when you're trying to get fuel into people in the bush because the weather can change in 5 minutes Jason will be the first Road train to attempt the run this year but he knows his window of opportunity could close fast you don't have time to mck around this time of the year you sort of want to get in get your job done and get back out on the bitchman with 93,000 L of diesel on board enough to fill 1 and a 12,000 cars everything's good to go Jason needs to get moving one thunderstorm and this diesel Mercy Dash could be delayed for weeks but just a few kilomet outside of town ho look there's a fair few pulled up here so something obviously drastic has happened all we can see from here is um something's rolled over onto the left hand side table drain and they've got TPS up really can't see nothing I don't want to walk in there and have a look either we've had a delay now so all we can do is you know just keep trucking along and and and just see what the rest of the day brings us now um you know there's no such thing as making up time after a day and a half of solid driving Jason's reached the start of the dirt beating our road trains on this dir Road this year he's the first out here for 53 M of Road train this is Uncharted Territory even though we've got dust still blowing up behind us underneath is still moist we should be fine long as we don't break through but up ahead a damaged section where another vehicle has broken through got a little bit of a dark section up here on the road it could be a bit of a wet spot slow down now and Jason risks getting bobbed time to Flory long to keep your momentum going was fairly cut up coming through there and it was still a bit damp underneath you can you can feel the truck sort of half sinking all the time he's made it to his first fuel drop uran D population 60 there a bit of relief there next crucial job you going I'll just put Jason on for you getting word from a station manager on the condition of the road ahead is that road open or closed over that way yeah the only thing is if I get bogged on this other bog all over here I got nothing to pull me out I I'll give you a call before I leave you excellent mate thank you right right bye mate what's the river doing um it's at8 H you won't get through there no not today but oh he's talking it's not the news he wanted the way forward is blocked by nearly a meter of water flowing over the road boy get stuck in there there's there's nothing really to pull me out I'm sort of on my own that's trucks too busy to dig out with a shovel we're just coming up to the end of the Bachman on the donah Hill Highway so goodbye to our H black stuff and all over to the different color rough stuff he's on the dirt and for the first time in 3 days there's not a cloud in the sky Jason can start thinking about offloading some fuel uh the first delivery we'll do would probably be about 6 hours time but just as he's settling into a long straight drive going to cop the yeah got you buddy news from Council worker yeah the river 600 over up there mate oh is it yeah over half a meter of water on the road ahead too much for his truck to power through this see what I said back there man I said the still open mate yeah because I've been up here every day looking at it mate not dropping fast I near got caught up here the other day I'll be back up in the morning yeah and I'll check it out again in the morning I want to go across before you fellas go across it Jason's only option wa some more next morning and the water levels have dropped Jason wants to go but the council arrive having checked the crossing he see here now so we'll we'll see what the what the verdict is it's below point4 it's touch and go he's leaving up to M Hall to go to go through um so yeah I will we'll give it a go Jason's backing himself to make it across feels a little bit soft but hopefully it'll we'll be okay we just go into it steady and don't do anything silly it's critical he hits it with enough speed too slow and he could get stuck [Music] [Music] on the slippery climb out of the river trouble see all this water up here is from people racing through your fast and cars cutting the water up the bank but I come through too slow I come through with a bit more Pace after a frustrating hour a local station owner arrives with some serious pulling power Jason's relying on the stiff bar to Hitch up to the greater there's just one problem [Music] it doesn't fit I got a a CH there can't big a CH not big at all and far from ideal for pulling 130 tons of bogged Road train if it snaps Jason will have run out of options [Music] [Applause] and at last it's all clear ahead everything's open the way we want to go [Music] finally he's made it Long Haul specialist turbo has his eyes on the skies storm clouds there that's the snot I'm heading into the 47-year-old is on a Time critical Mission delivering a load of building materials Into the Heart of the world-renowned kadoo National Park deu smack bang center of kako national park in Australia's Tor tropical North the Rainy seasons in high gear this is a time when most truckers are escaping the big wheat the turbo heading into the eye of the storm cuz it's the wet season and it's flooding weather radar is now saying that there's also a cyclone coming fingers arms and legs crossed I'm going to get through it's a journey more than twice the width of Texas and turbo needs to do it in 3 days his nine tons of freight is urgently needed to build a medical center something turbo could do with right now he's nursing a badly bruised arm it was caused from getting tangled up with a chain on on this trip turbo will need all his strength ahead are flooded rivers and closed roads yes it does make me nervous where I can be trapped between two River Crossings or two crve Crossings and that's place you don't want to be because nobody can get to you with a small transport business to keep afloat getting marooned on this Voyage could leave Turbo's business high and dry after 16 hours on the road he's reached the Northern Territory border but the news isn't good the main road to jabaru is blocked he has no choice but to try a different more hazardous route the dirt track of the remote t lands highway it's a very risky chance I'm taking my life and my just a few kilomet in and his first hurdle a small Creek now a fast flowing river yeah it's flooded in Australia's tropical North getting even close to the water's edge can be dangerous Croc infested little Croc right there what it looks like is it or isn't it that's a l while this Croc is not the threat remains time to grin and bear [Music] it using himself as a human dipstick turbo wants to check the water depth but this road is definitely Slippery When [Music] Wet the current was that strong I had trouble standing up oh I got to turn around that's all I can do most truckers would admit defeat but not Turbo he's got one last trick up his sleeve see what it's like if I reverse through crossing the surging water backwards my trailer is 15 M behind me so if my trailer goes underwater that's my gauge that tells me what's happening before I put the truck at risk this time it is trailer that's the dip stick this way turbo hopes to protect his truck's engine back in the tra but get this wrong and he could lose his load and his truck I'm trying to get a gauge of how deep as about a met deep here but I'm trying to get myself up on hard stuff yeah no we're not doing it it's just not worth it turbo needs to get out before he drowns his engine but something's wrong literally bogged in Silt at times like this if you don't laugh you'll cry [Laughter] his engine screaming B belts water's up over the M like through the bottom of the pulleys one final push that was the water level he may have failed to cross this River but turbo won't be defeated he heads back to the main Highway and hopes to find a way through I'm going to have to take the chances that's 50 50% chance it's open or a 50% chance it's closed the further turbo drives the worst the flooding becomes and now is a problem with his truck I reckon I've snapped the snapped an alternator belt damn that is not good at all under the Bonnet his worst fears are [Music] confirmed the fan belt snapped bit of would have flowing up with the water and got jammed in it without a fan belt to help cool the engine it could overheat and blow up I run a risk in $100,000 worth of damage it's got to be fixed before I go anywhere and I don't have a spare the closest town is 200 km away if he can't get there he won't be able to deliver his load losing him thousands of dollars in business can I hold me fingers but help is at hand turbo hitches a ride from Barkley to tanon Creek and in tenant Creek he finds his holy grail new fan [Music] Bel that's the old one there's the new one now I got to find a ride back 200 cakes back at his truck the repair has cost turbo time and money he's more than a day behind schedule and if he's not careful the weather could cost him a lot more I want to get out of here before this freaking rain [Music] hits fan B's fixed it's done we can get out of here now there are two Cyclones one on either side of me that are going to converge that's going to absolutely inundate this place now the pressure is really on to get to jabaru get this Fray off and get out of there as quick as I can his clients's waiting but the weather's not water over the road and yet the funny thing is I was told roads are open there's nothing wrong with the roads yeah right this time turbo isn't stopping he's overdue and wants to get this load through I would very very strongly say if you did not know the road at all don't even t such a massive body of water moving fast could have washed the road away I don't know exactly what the road is like underneath could be washed out completely while he's it onto Solid Ground the sky ahead looks ominous right over there big black rain cell 30 40 minutes of of a constant downpour flood wavs are going to just about be impossible to pass but Turbo's finally beaten the floods and made it back to civilization now it's smooth sailing to his destination turning on gadoo Highway he's nearly 2 days late but on this trip turbo had a TD time I've had flood waters rivers over roads D that fan belts but he's made it here it is it's all in a day's work for this Outback trucker

Channel: Outback Truckers

Views: 141,753

Keywords: trucking, long haul, long haul trucking, outback australia, trucking documentary, outback truckers tv show, outback truck drivers, heavy tow truckers in australia, australian tv show outback truckers, outback truckers best moments, Long Haul Trucker, outback truckers australia, driving trucks for a living, driving trucks in australia, trucks driving through deep water, trucks stuck in water, trucks driving through floods, big trucks driving through water, turbo outback truckers

Id: rlzRKV8wKNw

Length: 38min 1sec (2281 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2024