Waking up to floodwaters surrounding my house in Australia #flood #cycloneDebbie #anniversary #memories
This exact time last year, here was my morning view from the front verandah at 7am. My son’s room below the house was underwater up to my thighs. His friend’s motorbike was almost floating, and my neighbour’s cars had water up to their steering wheels.
It was a challenging, stressful time, as you can imagine, including several deaths, and I wrote about it here with many more photos in Soggy not Bloggy.
It took 3 days for the waters to subside, and miraculously, we only lost electricity for a few hours. Which was great, because I had two teenage boys marooned in the living room with me; we would have likely killed each other without the internet for distraction.
Or the toaster of course, for ongoing food requirements (I had waded to the supermarket with water over the top of my gumboots to bring back milk and bread).
Today, the nearby town of Lismore- which was devastated by over 11 metres of water literally rushing thorough the CBD– is having a community gathering and celebration of Resilience, organised by the local Council. What a fantastic, morale-building exercise! So many businesses struggled, as flood insurance is incredibly expensive, and many didn’t survive the task of re-building. Some of my friends were evacuated at midnight as the waters stormed the river levee bank, and one woman I know is still not back in her house- the engineer says it needs another 6 months to dry out and complete repairs…
Floodwaters doing their damage in son’s bedroom #australia #cycloneDebbie #flood #damage #stress
But today is about celebrating, looking forwards, and being grateful for all the stories of assistance and kindness; these gifts can truly heal so much.
In gratitude for support in times of trouble, with love, G xO
bone&silver 
I can’t even imagine what a hard time it must have been.hopefully is well behind you and won’t come back.
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Well, we live in a tropical area, so floods are a part of the culture… that was a particularly bad and fast one though 😓
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I suppose after a while you kind of get used to but ……still…..
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Wow, glad things are dry and that recovery is well underway. It’s a lengthy process. I love the celebration of resilience–Greta the concept!
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👍🏼🙏🏼🌈
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Pingback: #AtoZChallenge — Flood – at Milliways with a pen
A wise move by the Council.
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Very true. It was a wonderful day of celebration ❤
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I hope your home and you and your son came out of all this OK.
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Thanks- we lost a mattress, and a few other things, but some people lost entire contents of their homes 😓
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It was a terrible time for so many of you. Some tough lessons to earn that resilience
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Indeed. The strength of community support was definitely the best discovery though
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Holy crap! That must’ve been super stressful and distressing. I live in a town prone to flooding, but over the years infrastructure has lessened the likelihood of homes and businesses being affected. I know it’s a long haul to recovery. There’s some irony in the surfboard bobbing in the bottom of your son’s bedroom photo. How sad to learn that people died and some lost their livelihoods.
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It was a massive and unexpectedly bad disaster. Came up fast, and the expensive levee just couldn’t hold it back. It’s been a tough 12 months for many people
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How awful to wake up and see that! I
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Unbelievable 😫
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have only ever experienced flooding in a smaller scale but I know how frightening that was. X
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I’m glad it’s fading somewhat…
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It’s a bit of a shock to the human psyche, I think, when Herself shows us just how powerful She is and how little our wants and desires matter when She decides to flex Her muscles.
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That is so very true Widds 🙏🏼
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That is all so shocking for those of us who do not live in flood-prone areas. I remember those floods well – all through QLD too. Very frightening and hard to think you could ever dry your house out after that deluge!
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Cyclone Debbie was a destructive bitch that’s for sure! 😱
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Sorry. I had no idea you’d been through that. Glad you’ve got such a great community for support though. -hugs-
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It was an eye-opening experience, that’s for sure! Thanks : )
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-hugs-
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We were flooded a couple of years back, and you know what, I remembermost the community comming together. The silt, mould, ruined things and smell have gone, friendships made have not.
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Yes indeed! I still get a bit anxious if it rains heavily for consecutive days, but the sense of community was awesome. I’m glad that’s your reminder ❤
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