Thousands of Australians tuned in to a webcam stream of a Lexus caught on in the floods over the weekend, watching as it shifted closer and closer towards a raging river.
Over the weekend, large swathes of Sydney and regional NSW were subjected to torrential rain and flooding.
A bright spark during the harrowing saga has been the content created by a motorist who took a chance on crossing a flooded road in the Royal National Park.
Unable to make it to the other side, the driver abandoned their Lexus halfway over the river crossing.
This spot was not a great place to leave a luxury vehicle. But it also was extremely convenient for people online as it was directly situated in front of a traffic cam broadcasting to internet.
Each minute, a snapshot of the trapped car struggling to hold its position against the H20 onslaught is uploaded online. The first image of the Lexus in the floods was caught at 12.19pm on Saturday, according to the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader.
Images of the trapped car soon began to circulate online. The Sutherland Shire Police Area Command Facebook Page shared an image of it with the reminder “Don’t drive through flood waters. You’ll get wet when you walk out.”
From there, images capture a crowd gathering to watch the Lexus and to see whether the floods were going to carry it into the river. That was soon followed by the police, the SES and even an opportunistic kid dabbing.
Well done, kid. pic.twitter.com/6SMpWOoBKc
— Bert Handsome (@_BertHandsome) March 20, 2021
Two days later, the car is still partially submerged on Audley Road.
— cje (@caseyjohnellis) March 21, 2021
The car has shifted over the past 48 hours but remains well and truly on the road.
But that hasn’t dampened (no pun intended) interest in the camera’s footage. One website hosting the live camera images has counted more than 26,000 visitors, many of whom tuned in to try catch a glimpse of the Lexus before it was swept away in the floods.