Prince meets family of teen hero who saved brother

PRINCE William yesterday met the family of a 13-year-old Australian boy who gave his life to save his younger brother during devastating floods earlier this year.

The second in line to the British throne closed out a visit to disaster zones in Australia and New Zealand with brief but poignant stops in small towns where flash flooding ripped houses from their foundations and carried away cars during the worst of a week-long crisis.

Jordan Rice was among 35 people killed in the floods, washed away with his mother in their car when floodwaters cascaded through the town of Toowoomba on January 10. Trapped in the car as the water rose around them, the teenager told rescuers who reached them to grab his brother, Blake, 11, first.

William chatted with Blake and his father, John Tyson, yesterday at one of several functions where the prince mingled with survivors of the flooding, which swamped a huge part of northeastern Queensland state starting late last year.

“He could feel our pain, you could see it in his eyes,” Tyson said after meeting with the prince.

William’s visit, which comes as anticipation builds around his wedding in late April to Kate Middleton, has been relatively low key out of respect for those affected by the disasters in the places he has toured.

Flown by military helicopter, William stopped in the town of Grantham, which was almost completely wiped away by flash flooding in January that state officials described as an inland tsunami. He also visited Ipswich, a larger town that was one of many inundated by floodwaters.

William heard survival tales from residents who lived through the disaster, and attended functions.