Wagga Wagga floods (15)

All I can say at the moment is "Thank god for living in central". Three days ago it was different.

A knock at the door came around 10:30 pm and an SES worker informed me that everyone was told to move to one of the evacuation points. After packing my bag I left the place disconnecting the circuit breakers to the house just in case (lucky I had to go shopping that day).

Walking down the street was a surreal feeling, car rushing past me, sandbags infront of doors, people up the road sandbagging businesses ahead, a helicopter flying over with a spot light. It was surreal because it felt like something straight out of a movie.

20 minutes I was there, with a crowd of people I didn't know. Various ages and nationalities. Eventually having given the front counter (tables & chairs) my details I decided to sit down and wait. As more people came into the building i decided to pass the time with a book.

What must have been minutes later did I look up to see a familiar face in the crowd, a man I had once worked with before. We began to chat and soon did I realise that he had been effected by the floods. Changing the subject we began to talk of other things.

When lights out occurred and the time 12:00 am, it was hard to get used to sleeping in a new place, in a room with people i didn't know, although I was fortunate of having a place to go to.

Deciding that sleep was just another thing that fell off the list, got a cup of tea and decided to see who else was awake. Conversations around permit the exchange of a lot of updates the radio hadn't explained. North and East Wagga at the time were under water, the police were circling central to prevent any looters from taking advantage of the situation and at 3 am in the morning it is possible for someone to sleep without a pillow or a blanket on wet grass.

Greeted by the sunrise the group had stayed awake with an assortment of tea/coffee and milo, decided to help in whatever way we could with the services. Setting up beds, unpacking cars with food, cleaning areas with to much rubbish etc.. Until at last there was not a great deal to be done.

By 7 am news crews were on the scene read to report. Some people were waking up, others still sleeping and then there was the group half awake, half asleep. It was not until between 5pm and 6 pm that night when there was a meeting for Wagga residents to attend to. Many questions were posed, regarding both the water level and the levi.

After the meeting however, a lot of centrals concerns were put aside by the news, however North Wagga would be apart of the slow recovery process which was felt December last year.

Having felt fatigue weight down on my shoulders, I decided that I was desperate enough for a shower and some much needed rest. I phoned a friend hoping they would pick up the phone.

Answering the call, I managed to get a lift from the evacuation location after having said goodbye to a few people and notifying the workers managing the site on what a wonderful job they've done for the community.

Having arrived at my friends I jumped in the shower and soon made it to their couch.

16 hours later and here I sit reading the report for Wagga Wagga, "Thank god for living in central". Reports came in that the levi has held, the water has gone back down a bit and residents are aloud to return to their homes.

Time to go home.

Thanks for that Dude you have a good way of explaining things because as I read your post it was like being there and sharing your feelings.

The floods just missed us in the north east... one side Wangaratta the other side Shepparton both of them got flooded to some degree.

Also just escaped the bush fires a couple of years ago,this is what you get living inland in the bush.

the land of milk and honey
only sometimes we get burned,and sometimes we get wet,.but were aussies,and we dont worry.she,ll be rightmate