Another Story

It's a while since the flood but recently I caught up with a local I hadn't seen to have a chat with.

I had heard rumours about his eventful day so had the opportunity to sit down with him and hear his story.

Eventful it was.

He was preparing to take his wife to hospital for treatment on the day of the flood and when walking out to the car noticed the water flowing in the driveway and thought that's odd. He had never seen water there before.

He managed to get his wife in the car and headed off to town. He had to cross a significant bridge not far from his house and arriving at the crest was stopped by a hi vis creature and told he could not cross. He told the hi vis   he had to get his wife to hospital and would run him over if he tried to stop him.

He had noticed the raging water under the bridge but was determined to get to hospital.

Off he raced and cleared the bridge. It really was a raging torrent  but he had to do it.

later on in the day he tried to get back home and was prevented travelling on several roads and made a round trip to get as close as he could.

He finally realised how bad things were and arranged to stay in town.

When he finally arrived home a few days later the damage was extreme .His home contents were strewn about amongst the silt and water and years of accumulated books and furniture ruined.

His property was in one of the worst hit places and the water would have been as high as the ceiling.

His well had an upstand that had been snapped off and water was flowing freely across his property to the road. He asked council for help to no avail and eventually a company turned up and managed to stop the flow .

He was sent a big bill for the job which typified the approach of some following the flood. Make money out of the disaster. 

I am sure the firm could have easily waived the fee at such a stressful time.

To add to the pain he had many visits from looters who removed property at night and searched through all his house and sheds.

He is still having issues with councils which I will not expand on and has a massive cleanup job to do.

   

At least now there are some people rallying around to help him.

It's been a tough couple of years.