Without doubt, it’s been a scary couple of days. As the reports came out that the river had
peaked, we breathed a sigh of relief.
But the waters kept rising. We
watched as the water broke the levee to the left of our home, and poured over
the bank. Before we knew it, we had a
secondary river – in front of our house, and over the course of the next few
hours, the highway disappeared under a never-ending flow of water.
Bill and I hopped into the car to see if we could round up
some more sandbags, but the town seemed deserted – plenty of cars on the highway –
in fact, there were cars parked everywhere – just no people! Everyone had moved their vehicles to higher
ground, and had then returned home to save what they could.
The main street was under water, as were many homes and
businesses along the highway. It became
very obvious that we were in fact, very blessed – our house had not yet gone
under, and was obviously on higher ground than many of the houses in town.
As we drove home again, we ventured a little further north
to see what the water was like up to near the ferry – and boy, was that
flooding in! It was pouring over the
sand bags, straight across the highway, and was inundating the poor house
across the road. The cows were NOT
happy!
After a few minutes, we headed home, parked the car on high
ground, and settled ourselves in, hoping for the best – at that point, it was
all we could do. By now, the weather
was hot and humid, and I was not feeling well at all. So, I grabbed my computer and headed for a lie down. And what do you do when your house is about
to flood, and there’s nothing you can do about it? Call on all your Gmail chat buddies, and start a group chat! We all had a great afternoon, chatting away
about the flood, crocodiles, Christmas jingles and totally random stuff –
thanks, guys – you really are all very
entertaining! All the while, emails and
Facebook posts of support kept coming in, as did the text messages on my
phone. Once again, I was reminded of
what true friendship is all about - I really do have a bunch of wonderful,
supportive, and caring friends, and I’m so grateful for you all!
After that, we again checked the water level and the
sandbags, and organised some dinner.
Fortunately, we still had power, and so were able to cook without an
issue. But the waters were still
rising. At one point, a large wave came
right over the bank and water gushed into our yard. That was the one real ‘scary moment’, when I truly thought that
we were going to say ‘goodbye’ to our carpets and have water in our home, but
no, God is good. The waters held back,
and over the course of the next few hours, they began to recede. And finally, we really could breathe a sigh
of relief!
These two photos show best how high the river rose – the first
shows the back corner of our yard, with the railing that is above our stone
steps, which normally leads down to the river (that's the little 'stick' poking out of the water).
The second shows the tree in our back yard that is right on the top of
the levee - the water came right up to, and around,
it (just twelve paces from our back patio).
And this shows the empty block next door, with the waters
pouring in over the levee:
So, we were stranded.
The highway was cut off and deserted – quite a different sight from
normal, when the trucks are usually boring along at top speed! It was nice, for a change, not to have to
put up with all that traffic, but it was eerie. Somehow, I think I prefer the roar of the traffic rather than the
silent, sneaking waters coming up behind the house. I kept checking the website – and it was a bit scary to read that
everywhere around, the waters were going down – except at Ulmarra, our little
town!
Here’s our mailbox and the end of our driveway:
Eventually, though, the waters did begin to recede, and by
9pm, although the waters were still pouring over the levee onto the empty block
next door, the river did look as if it were down a little. I’d taken a few more photos before darkness
set in – including this lovely one of the sun setting over the river:
At this point, lack of sleep and exhaustion caught up with
me, and I crashed out, leaving my family with the hourly checks and keeping an
eye on it all. I awoke at 4am to a very
quiet house, with everyone sound asleep.
That, I figured, must be a good sign!
Grabbing a torch, I headed outside, and literally gasped at the sight –
what a difference a few hours can make!
The river had definitely receded, and the water line had dropped around
10cm. But the biggest difference was
our ‘river’ out the front and to the side.
The empty block next door had been completely covered in water, as had
the highway. But by 4am, this had
become more like a large puddle, rather than a secondary stream. No longer was water flowing through the
channels that Bill had dug, and no longer was there a huge puddle in our back
patio. The worst was over. The river was indeed dropping. Our house had been saved. Breathing one final sigh of relief, I headed
back inside, had a nice cup of tea, and grabbed a few more hours sleep.
Today, we ventured a little further along the highway - it's absolutely amazing how far the water travelled - and several houses on the other side of the highway are still under water. Although the highway is now clear of water, the pools still stretch for what look like miles on the other side. Seeing all the extent of the damage once again made us realise how lucky we were; because our house is on a slight rise, all the water had gone over the levee and straight passed us - amazing!
Of course, the highway is still closed to general traffic. And that meant only one thing - we just HAD to take the opportunity to dance and sing on the road that is usually swarming with trucks, buses and cars, and grab the chance to do something that would normally be impossible:
How often would you get to do THAT on one of Australia's busiest highways?
Again, thankyou to everyone who offered their support; I
cannot tell you how much it meant to know that my friends and family were
thinking of us, and to know we were not alone. And thankyou, too, to those who
contacted us with offers of accommodation – we may have been in NSW for only a
short time, but it’s wonderful to know that we are already making friends who
are quick to ensure our family is ok, and who were more than willing to offer
us all a bed. No doubt there will be similar times in the years to come, but
they say this was the worst flood that Ulmarra has ever experienced, so
hopefully, the next flood is a little less dramatic! It’s certainly been an interesting welcome to NSW, that is for
sure. Mind you, my friend in Grafton
tells me I still have one more thing to experience – flood mud! Apparently, the stench is something we still
have to ‘look forward’ to over the coming days. Lovely!
God bless,
Linda.
