"It's calming down now," she says of the ribbing she has received since the rescue. "But I still get the occasional jab."

"Honestly, it just happened so quickly. And that would be my warning to anybody really - when there are floods imminent or possible even, do not go walking by the river because they can rise unbelievably quickly."

What was extraordinary about the incident was not only the bad timing of Pam's walk or the speed at which the Loddon rose and broke its banks that afternoon but also the fact that two police superintendents were on hand to film the rescue, which was attended also by local officers and a Victoria Police water rescue team.

Thursday, October 13, was the day the Loddon peaked at Newstead, and later in the day half the town would spring into action to plug gaps in the levee bank and raise it with sandbags.

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But in the early afternoon all Pam had in mind was a bit of a stroll.

"It was around 2-3pm and I decided I'd go out and have a look at the river and see how how high it was," she says.

While she knew that heavy rains had put the town at risk of flooding, the 73-year-old - who moved there four years ago - wasn't aware how suddenly the Loddon rises and falls at Newstead.

"I was dressed in waterproofs and gumboots and thought I'd be fine for a walk around the cow paddock and back along the levee bank," she says.

"Yes, it was raining and there were puddles and things but the track was still okay until I got about halfway along the paddock, when suddenly I realised that the water was now flowing and the river had just broken its banks.

"I turned around hoping to make a rapid exit but was cut off by literally a river of water that was now flowing from the levee side of the paddock, and realised that I was stuck.

"It only took about 10 minutes. That's no exaggeration.

"Other people who were watching couldn't believe how quickly that water came up either."

Now stranded, she signalled to a couple who had pulled up in a car at the track near the bridge, and they went to get help.

"That was one way to meet our local policeman, Grant MacDonald," Pam says.

"When he arrived he gallantly tried to walk out to me but couldn't make it because he had to go through a low point and was neck deep."

With Pam standing by a big tree on slightly raised ground Grant MacDonald stood by another tree in the water and floated a rope down to her.

"I tied that around myself while he held the other end and kept saying, 'You're safe, you're safe, don't worry'," Pam says.

Leading Senior Constable MacDonald and Maldon policeman Dave Rose, who had also arrived, called in the Swift Water Rescue Team, and the three then waited for expert help.

Normally stationed in the city, the Swift team was available because it had been sent to Shepparton, then shifted its staging area to Bendigo as the flood intensity moved along the river.

Meanwhile, in Geelong a meeting of the Victoria Police superintendent group for the vast Western region had broken up suddenly as the severity of the flood situation became increasingly clear.

"On the Thursday morning we were starting to get a sense it was becoming more serious," says Inspector Donna Mitchell of Goldfields Area Command, who was part of the group.

"The power station at Castlemaine was being impacted with water coming up through the timber floor, and it was taking out the power and lighting from Castlemaine right through to Carisbrook.

"Then we became aware that the Carisbrook township was at risk of going under.

"We all needed to get back to our home towns so we could start to lead our response to the floods that were occurring."

Superintendents John O'Connor and Rebecca Olsen were trying to get back to Mildura when they stumbled across the rescue scene.

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"There would've been two police vehicles and two police members and a bit of a crowd and any police members would've stopped at that point to help," Inspector Mitchell said.

They didn't need to take an active role but were on hand to film the rescue when the Swift team arrived.

Pam, standing in fast flowing water nearly up to her hips, had been getting increasingly anxious and felt the team was taking "forever", although they arrived within about 20 minutes.

"And they had me out of there so quickly it was astonishing," she says.

"A guy came and swam out to me and gave me a big bear hug from behind and we basically walked out backwards."

Inspector Mitchell explained that the team member was attached to a bungee cord.

"He has swum out to [Pam] and turned her around so that his back is to her chest, and then he's just walked out and the bungee cord has pulled him out of the river and he's pulled her to safety."

"When he got in the water it probably took less than a minute to get her out, and then at that stage Grant was able to get himself out safely as well."

"I was very lucky. And I felt really stupid of course," Pam says.

She hasn't seen Leading Senior Constable MacDonald since the incident but "got a bottle of Glenfiddich to him" via his wife.

"It was the least I could do," she says.

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