More rain on the way for Rochester

Despite cleaning their flood damaged 100-year-old home, Leisa and Wayne Cody now fear more water could destroy it completely.

Nicknacks, photos and dresser drawers sprung up like roadside daisies along Moore St, Rochester on the weekend.

The hard rubbish collections had piled up more quickly than trucks could come to claim them, as the town braced itself for a potential second round of flooding.

The shops had closed, and the streets were mostly populated by volunteers racing to lay down sandbags around business shop fronts.

Homeowners Leisa and Wayne Cody were among those who spent the past week clearing out ruined furniture.

They now fear that a second flood could send some of it hurtling back across the nature strip, through their weakened front fence and into their 100-year-old weatherboard home.

Leisa and Wayne Cody outside their 100-year-old home in Rochester. They are cleaning their home with the intention of laying sandbags to protect it from another potential flood. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

Rochester SES on the weekend warned the town’s streets could once again fill with water on Monday or Tuesday.

Ms Cody said she and her husband intended to lay more sandbags to prevent any further damage to their home.

“We’re living with friends at the moment,” she said.

“We hope it can be renovated, I think I would cry if we had to knock it down. We have insurance and we have been told it may be too expensive to repair and may have to be knocked down.”

The couple has lived at the address with their children since 2014.

A watermark dots an uneven line around the walls of every room in the home and the backyard swimming pool has turned a dark shade of brown.

Wayne Cody is not looking forward to fixing the swimming pool in his Rochester backyard. Picture: Julieanne Strachan

Mr Cody, a professional pool technician, doesn’t relish the task of restoring it.

Ms Cody, who owns a hair salon in town, had hoped to get back to work this week but expects that the predicted second flood will make that impossible.

“We have received the (flood relief) money from the government but it can only last so long and the bills don‘t stop,” she said.

“We need to get back to work.”

The Rochester SES posted a warning to social media urging residents to check their floor heights to determine their risk.

“Streets will be flooded but depending on your individual floor height, your house may not be affected, but your property could go under again,” the Rochester SES posted to social media.

“If you have built a new house since 2011 we don’t have data because we had been told all those houses were built above 2011 flood height.”

A town hall meeting will be held Monday night, livestreamed to the town’s Facebook page.