Trauma and horror injuries for Wilsons Creek couple crushed by home

Shafiqa Irwin faces an agonising wait to learn the extent of injures after she and partner Alex were crushed by their damaged home. Here’s how her night of horror unfolded.

Shafiqa Irwin’s terrified screams while trapped under the wreckage of her home smashed by a landslide in the floods woke her unconscious partner buried under mud.

An avalanche of giant boulders, mud from a collapsed cliff side and raging rainwater had ripped through the home catapulting her 10 meters through a pane of glass out onto the ground.

Her partner Alex Heilpern was buried under rubble knocked out cold from a blow to head by a flying kitchen sink.

Shafiqa Irwin, 26 and partner Alexander Heilpern, 35, were left injured and homeless after their rented house in Wilson's Creek was hit by a landslide during the floods. Picture: Toby Zerna

Shafiqa was catapulted through a window pane suffering two broken ankles. Alex was pinned against a wall in the house by a flying sink and was knocked unconscious.

“I just heard a huge roar, just for two seconds, like an earthquake, and next thing I flew across the kitchen through a window and woke up in torrential rain vomiting, it was pitch black,” said the 26-year-old equine therapist from Upper Wilsons Creek, in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

“There was a fridge, a door and a glass pane on top of me, it was terrifying.”

Shafiqa Irwin suffered two broke ankles and has undergone two surgeries and will learn next week the extent of her leg injuries. Picture: Supplied

The next 15 minutes was spent screaming at Alex to help.

When he reached her, wading through mud that was like “quicksand” towards her cries, and pulled her from the debris, she stood up to walk but collapsed.

Shafiqa was airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital.

“It was then I realised that I had broken both my ankles, but the fear and sheer adrenaline to escape from harm and wade through the quicksand mud that dragged you under, allowed me to ignore the pain.”

The couple, among scores injured and two dead in the destroyed valley cut off by roads after the recent “rain bomb” struck, are undergoing therapy to come to terms with the trauma of their 48 hour ordeal which decimated the ground floor of their two bedroom stone and timber house nestled in rainforest.

The nightmare began around 2am three weeks ago on Monday when they were woken by the sound of water bubbling under the crack of the front door. After an hour of mopping and using towels to soak up the constant stream of water, the couple went to bed hoping the worst of the floods was over.

The ground floor of her home in Wilsons Creek was decimated in the landslide.

Shafiqa and partner Alex are now living in temporary accommodation in Broken Head. Picture: Toby Zerna

“I’ve got phone call at 3 am for my sister who lives further up in the valley asking if we were okay because my niece and nephew were also in inches of water in their house,” Shafiqa said.

“Seconds later the intense grumble sound came and we were covered in earth,” she said.

“I tried to head for the front door but was swept out through side window with the torrent.

“I couldn’t stop screaming, I knew Alex was buried somewhere but I didn’t see in the dark, the boulders just kept coming,dozens and dozens,” she said shaking from the memory.

Alex carried her through the house and attempted to drag her through the rainforest to safety but the excruciating pain of her shattered ankles meant she could not walk far and they turned back.

He traipsed to a neighbour’s in the dark to raise the alarm and returned in his Land Cruiser to take Shafiqa to a nearby cabin where the couple stayed 36 hours until paramedic Sarah Black and her partner Richard Temple arrived trekking 4kms through leech-infested waters to reach them. They brought noodles and morphine to treat the pain.

They stayed overnight before a Westpac helicopter landed in her paddock to take her to Gold Coast University Hospital.

Shafiqa has undergone two operations in two weeks to have metal plates inserted in her left foot and screws to fix a gaping gash in her right foot after breaking both ankles. Surgeons will review her injuries next Monday to determine how long she will be confined to a wheelchair.

“I have been really shaken by this and will be for a very long time, I’m undergoing therapy to come to terms with what’s happened, both of us are,” she said.

“We’ve lost everything, our homes, our possessions, the medical treatment and bills will cost the earth we are grateful we are alive…. And the doctor say because I’m young, I should no doubt walk again. I really hope so, I’m grateful for that.”

To donate, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-shafiqa-rebuild-her-home

To help raise money for the Upper Main Arm flood relief Centre, visit:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/upper-main-arm-flood-relief

‘The possums were bedraggled and terrified like us’

Louisa Chambers and her partner had been huddled, terrified, for six hours on the roof of their home when the surreal image of terrified possums scurrying past the pair managed to put a smile to her face.

“They cheered us up when we saw them, all we could see were telegraph poles, murky water for miles, treetops, a snake, boats; we were there for six hours on our rooftop and when we saw the possums running past us, they made us ­chuckle,” said registered nurse Louisa, 60, from South Lismore.

“But the reality is they were terrified like us, and bedraggled in the rain, they had nowhere to go, and that’s how I feel now adrenaline and the rush of surviving the floods is over. How will they rebuild Lismore?

“I’m staying with friends at the moment. They’ve been so kind to us they won’t take any money for food, but for how long can we stay?

“If my house dries up we might be able to go back but if not I have no idea where I go.”

Louisa Chambers and her partner Richard Maguire were rescued off the roof of their house in North Lismore.

A group of possums similarly seeking shelter brought smiles to the couple’s faces.

Ms Chambers and her partner Richard Maguire clambered on the corrugated iron roof top of the home when the floodwaters generated by the east coast rainbomb gushed up through the stilted house through the first floor. Carrying backpacks with water, snacks and blankets, the pair camped on top of the property until daybreak, captivated by the bizarre scenes around them.

“There were cars floating, people being dragged from rooftops into boats, and I heard of a 93-year-old woman trying to hold on to her walking frame and door frame at the same time to try not to get washed away.

“Our kids have lost two years of their lives due to Covid, and it will take years to rebuild Lismore, that’s an entire generation that has suffered.”

Louisa and Richard have lived in their home for 13 years and have never seen flooding like this. Picture: Supplied

Ms Chambers is now waiting to hear whether her two-bedroom weatherboard home will be among the 2000-plus Lismore properties condemned in the wake of the floods.

“The daunting reality of trying to rebuild our lives is sinking in, there are a lot of people walking around traumatised wondering how we’re going to rebuild,” she said.

“We want Lismore to be a rebuilt, there’s a lot of positive spirit … I wonder if it’s even possible.”

Lismore mayor Steve Krieg said the city will be built “bigger and better” than before. “We’ve had floods for years, this was a one-off disaster, not a flood,” he said.

Students long for destroyed primary school to re-open

Peering wistfully through the new safety fences erected around Main Arm public school after it was swamped in the massive east coast floods, second-generation student ­Rahiti Guerra and his friends simply want to know one thing: will it ever reopen?

DAILY TELEGRAPH - 22 MARCH, 2022. Main Arm Pulbic School near Mullumbimby has had temporary fencing erected around their main office and school block after recently flooding left the building at risk of being condemned due to the damage. Local parents and students are concerned the small school will remain closed for good. Kirra Jose 10 (L) with a group of parents and their kids. Picture: Toby Zerna

“I want this school to survive,” said 10-year-old Rahiti.

“My mum went to the school, I went to the school ­before the floods came and closed it. I just love this school and want it to reopen.”

Rahiti and his friends are being temporarily schooled 7km away at Durrumbul Public School.

Their 100-pupil school, northwest of Mullumbimby, was severely damaged in the floods which caused devastated the Northern Rivers.

Next week demountables will be erected in the Main Arm school’s grounds. “I know it’s a difficult time for students but we are bringing in demountables next week to enable the school to operate until it can be repaired,” a NSW education spokeswoman said.