A Carnarvon man has survived a terrifying 12-hour ordeal after being swept away by raging floodwaters, clinging to a tree through the night before making a desperate escape.

Noel Glanville, 53, wasn’t sure if he’d ever see his family again after fast-moving floodwaters roared through Carnarvon on Sunday night in the wake of Cyclone Narelle.

He described the sheer power of the Gascoyne River in flood. “You can’t fight against it, you can’t swim against it,” he told 7NEWS.

Glanville was on the riverbed like many other locals waiting for the floodwaters to arrive when he was caught off guard.

Swept up by the torrent, Glanville managed to grab hold of a tree and held on throughout the night as the water raged around him.

“I was thinking, if it comes any higher, I’m going to be buggered because the tree was really, it got swaying backwards towards the current,” he said.

When daylight broke, he found the strength to swim to shore, reaching the Rivergums Plantation Cafe.

“I could see a house there, I walked there … the bloke was walking out the house there and he looked at me (and said) ‘where did you come from?’ and I just went like that, pointed at the river,” he said.

After being given a hot shower, coffee and food, the strangers then provided Glanville a kayak so he could paddle off the property, which remains surrounded by water, and into the arms of his relieved family.

“I’m just so happy you made it (and) didn’t lose you in that water,” his loved one said.

“Like I say, it’s not my time to go yet,” Glanville responded.

Despite his incredible survival, Glanville admits he should never have been in that position and is now warning others to stay well clear of floodwaters.

“Are you feeling lucky that you are alive?” he was asked.

“Flamin’ oath,” he replied. “You can’t mess with Mother Nature, can you?”

After coming face to face with the river’s fury, Glanville will never look at the Gascoyne River the same way again.