Sydney’s flood victims struggle to get their lives back together 12 months later

Houses may no longer be underwater, but Sydney’s flood victims are still battling mental demons and red tape as they struggle to rebuild their lives.

This is the street that’s still battling the floods, one year later.

Their houses may no longer be under water but many on Coromandel Rd, Ebenezer are still living in caravans or costly rentals, unable to return home.

Those on the lowest lying part of the street, which backs directly onto the river, were completely inundated in the March 2021, March 2022 and July 2022 floods.

Suzanne Hamilton and her husband Mark thought they were buying their dream lifestyle when they moved to Ebenezer in 2015 after a house fire saw them lose everything on the Northern Beaches.

In 2020 their dream turned into a nightmare when a tree crushed their top storey in December, three months later they were inundated by floods and a year later hit by another two catastrophic floods.

Raelene Hodgskin and her husband Gerard are still fighting to claim flood grants. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Now, while most of the Hawkesbury has gone back to their homes, Ms Hamilton looks around her still destroyed home in disbelief.

“We don’t talk about anything else, we’ve done nothing but do repairs on the house and wonder if it’s going to flood again. It’s taken a huge toll on us and we are still renting,” Ms Hamilton said.

Ms Hamilton said builders contracted by her insurance company put in mouldy insulation that had to be redone, then a perfect storm of slow progress with insurance and grants – and a tradie shortage – has seen the repairs blow out.

“We are still living it … but we feel forgotten,” she said.

“When it rains I still get scared. It’s been sad coming down here but slowly starting to look like a house again.”

Damage in Ebenezer is still apparent after three floods in two years. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Many residents said getting tradies is a battle on its own, with many now working on new developments and rising costs ballooning repair budgets.

Other locals say the mental battle has been just as tough as the physical clean-up.

After the cameras and politicians were gone and residents were left to pick up the pieces, many turned to local mental health support services.

Diane and Derek Heiler live just a few doors down from the Hamiltons and also had water up to their second storey.

The couple are one of a number of locals trying desperately to get council to fix a cavernous pothole that has made their local road a danger to pedestrians and drivers.

Even when The Sunday Telegraph visited the street this week the pothole was full of water, and locals said when drivers speed through it after rain, a wave of water crashes into the front of homes.

It has been anything but a dream for Suzanne and Mark Hamilton in Ebenzer. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Add this to riverbanks still not secured and the landscape still ripped apart, 12 months on.

“Our rates went up 30 per cent after the floods, so why can’t they fix the roads?” Mr Heiler said.

Closer to Windsor, at Wilberforce, Raelene Hodgskin and her husband Gerard are still fighting to claim flood grants.

The lengthy process has exhausted the couple, who are out of pocket thousands in the repairs of their go karting business.

“The process is so complicated and there’s just too much to do. Fences are still down, debris is in the trees, lights still not working, the electricity poles are still down,” Mrs Hodgskin said.

They estimate their damage bill will cost them hundreds of thousands.

Over the Windsor Bridge, Scott Hinks is still fighting for Hawkesbury flood victims after a terse exchange with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then premier Dominic Perrottet. Confronting the pair while they visited flooded Hawkesbury communities in July last year, Mr Hinks told the pair their words were not enough.

Derik and Diane Heiler say there is still plenty of water around. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Hinks said he has been knocked back for flood grants despite having to spend around $50,000 repairing his property and not having worked for three months during the pandemic. With the raising of the Warragamba Dam now scrapped, he said locals feel little hope.

“We need something to change and now is the time with El Nino,” Mr Hinks said.

“Floods are not a sexy natural disaster – bushfires you have flames, fireys running around but floods are slow … but a year later in Windsor it still looks like a bomb has gone off.”

Hawkesbury City Mayor Sarah McMahon says she knows the council has a role to play, but is calling on Mr Minns to see the mess for himself.

Ebenezer flooded in 2021. Picture: Nearmap

Many in the Hawkesbury – including Ms McMahon – wanted to see the Waragamba Dam wall raised. Now Mr Minns has scrapped the idea, she wants answers as to how to protect the community in the future.

“We’ve written to the Premier twice inviting him to the Hawkesbury, I was disappointed when they took the raising of the dam wall off the table … the night before I had asked them to please come and have a conversation first,” she said. “I know of families still living in caravans who can’t deal with the mental anguish.”

When asked about the cavernous hole plaguing Coromandel Rd, a council spokesman said repairs are “weather permitting” and may start next week, while the riverbank restoration is still awaiting a grant to be finalised.

Scott Hinks says he has been knocked back for flood grants despite having to spend $50K to repair his property. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The state government was contacted for comment but did not reply before print deadline.

Premier Chris Minns admitted there’s more work to do in the Hawkesbury to improve resilience in the region.

“Before the election we committed $225 million for the Western Sydney Floods Resilience Plan,” he said.

“This funding will upgrade to evacuation roads, levees and critical communications infrastructure which will help improve flood prevention and evacuation infrastructure across Western Sydney.

“We will continue to work closely with Hawkesbury Council and the NSW Reconstruction Authority to ensure their roads are in good working order and will address their concerns on a case-by-case basis.”

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