Bravery award: Tamworth local Michael Maytom speaks out about life-saving effort at Stroud 2015 floods

It was 4am, pitch black except for one street light that shone across the Stroud Showground.

Michael Maytom had finished his shift at 3am on April 21, 2015 when the flood alert came through.

In a situation where most people would run in the other direction, the now-Bective local heard campers would be trapped at the showground and drove straight there.

As the water rose he abandoned his car, and as an elderly man was swept through the floodwaters, Mr Maytom grabbed his hand and pulled him out.

It was only his first rescue of the night.

His voice catches as he talks about it for the first time in almost six years.

"It just kept getting higher," he told the Leader.

"I could hear this other voice, and he was just going, 'help me, help me,' he would roll over and there'd be nothing. It was the old fella.

"I just grabbed him and pulled him in."

A couple on the bonnet of their car jumped off and were swept into the rushing floodwater.

"They went down past where I couldn't get them, all you could see were these two heads bobbing in the backwater of the bridge," Mr Maytom said.

"They just disappeared. I said to the old bloke, 'they're gone, I think we just lost two'."

It was then Mr Maytom saw another couple clinging onto a brick building.

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The man made it onto the roof, but couldn't pull the woman up, so Mr Maytom ripped off his jumper and belt to use as a sling to hold her.

"The water was freezing, I just kept asking her questions to keep her mind off things, asking how many grandkids she had, if she wanted to see them again," he said.

She hung on for hours, until rescue boats arrived and Mr Maytom eventually walked through waist-deep water to safety.

Mr Maytom has been awarded a Commendation for Brave Conduct by the Australian Bravery Awards.

But, if you ask him, "I'd do the same thing tomorrow".

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