Jemima Macdonald and her family had only moved into their new home in the Wollongong suburb of Thirroul a fortnight before disaster struck.
Jolted awake by the sound of neighbours banging on their doors, it was 5am on Saturday when they found floodwater pouring through their backyard and into their home.
“We knew that we had to get out immediately. We didn’t grab anything, we just grabbed our son,” Ms Macdonald said.
“At that point the water had gotten to about a metre and a half at the back of our house.”
The family sought shelter at their cousin’s house nearby and returned an hour later to a scene of utter devastation – their home and yard completely submerged.
“It was just devastating to see all of our stuff just ruined,” Ms Macdonald said.
“I think the whole of yesterday, just walking around not knowing what to do, not knowing where to start — just loss.”
No insurance
Ms Macdonald took out an insurance policy to secure the purchase of her house, but she said she had not had a chance to investigate flood insurance.
“We don’t have flood insurance, my partner has just been made redundant,” she said.
“What are we going to do, how are we going to survive this?”
Ms Macdonald has found a “silver lining” to the past devastating 48 hours, in the neighbours and community who have rallied around them.
“We had neighbours, people from the other side of Thirroul coming over and bringing their shovels and their mops and saying what can we do, where do we start?” she said.
“Or not even asking us, just going in and doing it because we didn’t know where to start.
“We didn’t know a single person when we moved here, and we moved here to be part of the community and that is what we got yesterday.”
Flooding ‘worse than ’98’
Just up the road, John Dark woke to the sound of “rumbling” rocks coming down Hewitts Creek, which runs along the back of all the properties.
He later heard “an almighty bang” as his neighbour’s wall broke and water rushed through his house.
“I knew then it was on for young and old,” he said.
“We were here in ’98, so we have lived through four of them [floods], the ferocity and the volume of water in a short space of time … this is far worse.”
Mr Dark said the management of the bank of Hewitts Creek was the responsibility of property owners and they needed more support and coordination to widen the creek and help keep it clear of debris.
Council working with residents
Wollongong Council staff were on site today, talking to locals.
“We are so appreciative that council has come this time,” Mr Dark said.
“This is the first time since ’98 that they are really getting involved and we are stoked.”
Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the council would work with residents to help improve private waterways, but also said they had an obligation to keep them clear.
“They have a social responsibility as well in terms of the impact that their behaviour has on other residents in terms of [the] possibility [of] causing blockages as well,” he said.
Cr Bradbery said he was concerned the region would bear the brunt of more systems like the past 48 hours.
“This seems to be a pattern,” he said.
“East coast lows forming and the intensity of those lows bring moisture in off the ocean, hitting the escarpment and quickly dropping its load.
“At the same time larger volumes of rain and higher velocity and that causes us a lot of concern.”
Emergency funds available
As of 2pm on Sunday, NSW SES crews had assessed 74 properties in the Illawarra area.
Fifty-seven properties have been damaged, with 28 inundated by floodwater.
Fourteen properties were assessed as not habitable.
Hundreds of other properties were impacted by the flood event.
The state and federal governments have made disaster funding available.
The areas covered include the Blue Mountains, Camden, Hawkesbury, Kiama, Liverpool, Penrith, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Sutherland, Upper Lachlan, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly and Wollongong Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Train services offline
Wollongong MP Paul Scully said there was financial support available for individuals, businesses, community and sporting organisations.
The floodwater has severely impacted rail services, with no trains running between Waterfall and Bomaderry.
Mr Scully said Transport for NSW was carrying out assessments and commuters were being urged to make alternative arrangements for travel.
“We don’t expect those rail services to be back up and running for the morning commute tomorrow,” he said.
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