A 92-year-old Barranquilla man was rescued from a raging river thanks to the help of a local police officer and a group of passers-by.

Roberto Blanco's life or death rescue was captured on amateur video, showing the elderly man clinging to a cable as rescuers pulled him to safety from a raging torrent of floodwater.

Police and passers-by had heard Blanco's cries for help as he clung onto a cable under a bridge to stop from being swept away from the churning mass of floodwater.

They stopped vehicles and got a rope to reach Blanco.

Blanco, who collects rubbish from the city's streets for recycling, was reportedly caught up in the fast-flowing floods after he took a nap by the river.

Flood-prone Barranquilla does not have rainwater drainage system with the Caribbean's hurricane season afflicting the coastal town with annual fast-flowing floodwaters.