Dungog's Fatal Floods

On Monday night (20^th April) I ended up going to bed very late, as the rain on the roof was so loud, I knew I wouldn’t be able have a good night’s sleep.  I have NEVER heard rain that heavy and for that long (about 8 hours nonstop).  At day light I looked out and normally see this sight…

 

 But saw this instead….

The neighbour’s cattle were knee deep in flood water… thankfully our 3 (Casserole, Stew & T-Bone) were on high ground.  Water was running down our property as if we had a stream! 

 

Also the eerie quietness of no trains became obvious.  From our front gate you could see why....

Rail way lines hanging in mid-air…even one of the concrete sleepers had been washed away.
Our little town of Dungog had received 312mls overnight…that is about 13 inches!
We couldn't get to town as all roads were flooded.

Picnic area awash….

 

As we live just out of town, we were VERY LUCKY and only lost telephone & internet coverage for 2 days, but in town lost power (3/4 of a day) phones, internet (same as us) & WATER (2 days).  Bottled water was brought in yesterday afternoon.  All internet was down, so there was cash transactions only & banks were closed as they relied on the internet!

Being a small town, we heard of the 3 deaths straight away, plus the sweeping away of 4 homes at 5am in the morning.   I had to go to town the next day as Mum had an appointment for her flu injection, so I ventured in to town not knowing what to expect… the devastation of where the houses once were was unbelievable… it was clear that the SES had got in and cleaned up BIG TIME…but whole homes being carried away by water??????  The one house in the photo and the “Tyre Shop” are probably going to be demolished, along with a row of old aged people’s homes.

A house use to be here ...

 

This is the Tyre Shop that was part of where I use to work..

 

Both my friend's house and her son's house use to be here...
(this was the house you saw floating away on TV news)

Another house use to be here...

 
It is sad to mention, that 3 elderly people lost their lives in the flood.

Thank you to all who tried to contact me and thought of me... I was one of the lucky ones.

Until next post...
Jewells