Appeal for help for our Australian Cyclone Flood victim and friend.

Firstly I like to thank EVERYBODY who donated to my FLOOD appeal, regardless of the amount every little helps, Special thanks to GsCougar for starting the appeal, fortunately the donations were anonymous so I don’t have to  thank everyone individually  LOL.

Just be aware that all donations are appreciated, it’s a humbling experience to be the benefactor of such a tribute from people who you don’t really know except from Achat.

Now my last post I promised to detail my flood experience so here it is.

We were aware that cyclone Debbie was moving into the coast a thousand kilometres or more north of us; we were unaware that a monster low was coming north and they met around Lismore where I live. With that came the warning if possible flooding now we get about 3 or 4 flood warning every year and we never had one in the 12 years I have lived here. So we tend to take these warnings with a bit of salt,

Though as I said  this time there was a huge low pressure zone moving North as Debbie was moving South and it created torrential rain for 2 weeks that's made the ground saturated and filling all the Reservoirs and having a rivers run a banker. Again having a positive mental attitude I took the warnings with a cavalier attitude, though  still keeping an eye on the storms,  we were warned again on Thursday that there was a possibility of a big flood., we heard it all B4 the “Little Boy Who Cried Wolf”. Even so I stayed up all Thursday night keeping my eye on the weather, having put all my property four feet off the ground just in case it flooded through my house

At 4 a.m. the flood siren went off telling us that the levee bank had been topped meaning water was rushing over the top of the levee bank into the city.  Siting on my balcony looking for the water I still saw nothing it was dark and we still raining so I expected to get some water, when the sun came up about 7:20 a.m. and I looked out over the roads looking for water and still seeing nothing the roads were wet, yes the rain has stopped and there was no standing water but I could see the drains running but it looked like we dodged a bullet.

Within an hour the water had started to arrive, within 4 hours I had water through my house and by mid-afternoon the water was up to the top landing of the Staircase and 10 feet of water through my house, the stuff  I raised ‘out of harm’s way’ was  well submerged.

I lost my Internet power everything fortunately a friend who lived out of the affected area was kayaking and supplied is with the necessary bottled water food cigarette alcohol all the stuff you need when you're stranded in the middle of a lake.

On the third day the water started to recede it went down quite rapidly to about 6 feet and then it stopped going down and decided to come back up with the tide and then by the next morning it was all gone, leaving a massive mess.  I went downstairs to check out the damage, everything that could float in my house floated out the back or over the fence and down the street everything that didn't was covered in thick layer of mud unfortunately I'm disabled and only have a limited capacity to lift and carry,  there was a mass influx of volunteers who stepped up to help clean and a great job they did though everything that was dirty or wet went out in the street which was everything stainless steel pots and pans glasses plates things weren't damage just dirty but didn't matter, they just dumped it all out into the street everything I owned gone but what can I do these people volunteering their time and effort doing for me what I couldn’t do myself.

I don't know if you've ever been in situation similar,  to be honest it's devastating and heartbreaking just see everything you own small things that you've had for years and years and years but have stories with them all gone even now I still haven't finished cleaning the mud off everything but we're getting there I can't thank the local people here enough for their assistance and help and support even the government come to the party with cash as well as a couple of up fundraisers every still of my faith in human nature I hope and pray that you never suffer an experience like this it's physically give you all the mentally debilitating