‘Unsung heroes’: Volunteers spring to action in flood aftermath
Tasmanians will be spared further heavy rainfall over the coming days but many spent Monday mopping up the mess Sunday’s wet weather left in its wake. LATEST >>
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Tasmanians in the state’s south will be spared further heavy rainfall over the coming days, as many spent Monday mopping up the mess the wet weather left in its wake.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Alex Melitsis said conditions were easing, with no signs there would be further downpours over the next week or so.
“We do have some showers coming into the southeast for the rest of the afternoon, but we’re expecting them to ease this evening,” Mr Melitsis said.
“Then, we go into more typical west to south-westerly airstream weather over the next few days, so much more settled conditions.
“We still have the odd shower or two over the southeast (on Tuesday) but we’re not expecting any significant rainfall at all.”
Rainfall totals were around 30 to 50mm generally across the east and southeast over the weekend, with even higher totals recorded in elevated areas.
Across a 48-hour period to 9am on Monday, 165mm of rain was recorded at Mt St John, 154mm at kunanyi/Mt Wellington and 151mm at Mountain River, according to Mr Melitsis.
However, 133mm was recorded at Nugent and 90mm at Longley.
Long-standing records were also broken for the highest daily rainfall for the month of August at Lewis Hill and Tooms Lake.
Evidence of the wet weather was everywhere on Monday, with more than 20 road closures still in place and even a washed-up boat spotted on the beach at Surveyors Bay.
SES acting director Leon Smith said there were 127 calls for assistance in total across the state’s south over the weekend, with water inundating homes and properties.
“Our crews were kept busy until (6pm on Sunday) tidying up those outstanding requests for assistance in the south,” Mr Smith said.
He said the SES on Monday wrapped up the “operational” phase, having attended all clean-ups “of urgency”.
“Although we’re in the clean-up phase or the recovery phase now, there’s still chances of showers and isolated rain events,” he said.
“People shouldn’t be complacent.
“If roads are closed by signage, don’t disregard that signage.”
‘You can’t live like this’: Sorell home suffers second round of flood damage
A Sorell woman says she felt “helpless” as she watched her home flood for the second time in five months after heavy rain on Sunday caused the nearby creek to break its banks.
Single mum Tanya Cleary spent Monday assessing the damage the fresh flooding has done to the weatherboard house she lives in with her two children, aged 10 and 12, and her three pets.
Ms Cleary said her home first flooded about five months ago and then again on Sunday, when water from the Sorell Rivulet crept towards and under her property.
“The water actually comes up through the floorboards,” Ms Cleary said.
“There’s still water directly underneath the floorboards now.”
She said she rang SES around 10am on Sunday, when she could see the water begin to inch closer to her home.
But the SES could do nothing for her.
“I said: ‘I’m sure that the house is going to flood again,’” she said.
“They said: ‘We don’t do sandbagging just in case (of flooding).’”
“Then I rang the council and the council said: ‘You have to ring the SES.’”
Within no time, her floor had disappeared under 10 to 20cm of murky, brown water.
Ms Cleary said she felt not only frustrated, but “helpless”.
“Even though I had reached out to seek help, no one knew who should be helping,” she said.
“I had to sleep in the car last night.
“I couldn’t sleep in here.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do going forward because you can’t live like this.”
The single mum, who is insured, said she has had to live with flood damage for months, as the repairs to her flooring and kitchen have been delayed.
To prevent her home flooding for the third time, Ms Cleary said something needed to be done about a dam further along the Sorell Rivulet.
“It’s impeding the flow of the creek.”
Ms Cleary said while she is lucky her house was not totally submerged, she was saddened by the destruction of items from her childhood.
“I held onto them for 50 years and it takes something like this to (ruin them).”
‘Unsung heroes’: Volunteers spring to action in flood aftermath
Huon Valley locals spent Monday morning shovelling muck, debris, and ruined belongings off their driveways in the sorry aftermath of Sunday’s storm.
Elderly Geeveston Bowls Clubs players rolled up their sleeves and spent the morning clearing away the mud and gunk which had soaked into the carpet.
Hard at work was 78-year-old Leonie Coad, who said the bowls club was precious to her and the little community of retirees who hung out there.
“It’s worth it,” she said.
“It’s a good little club with lovely people.”
Hilton Coad, 82, heroically battled through coursing thigh-deep water on Sunday in an attempt to save the clubhouse from being totally flooded.
Together with a friend they managed to dig a little gutter to redirect some of the water out of the greens and away from the clubhouse before being overpowered by the currents.
“We weren’t quite quick enough. We started to get that dug but then the water overpowered us and we had to leave it,” Mr Coad said.
“It packs a lot of force, water like that. It all happened within a couple of hours.”
Huonville resident Dawn Sproule’s backyard turned into a swimming pool on Sunday, the water lapping dangerously close to her back door on Tutton Ave.
She rushed to save whatever possessions she could, but ended up losing much of the equipment and memorabilia that had been kept in the back shed.
“I let me insurance run out two months ago – 20 years I was insured and I let it run out. I could’ve cried,’ Ms Haughland said.
“If it weren’t for the next door neighbours we’d have been buggered, they come and help us move things out.”
Her neighbour Trudi Haughland’s backyard was so heavily flooded that her birdbath was entirely submerged under the muddy water.
Ms Haughland said she didn’t have time to save the mower and the power equipment in the shed, so intense was the downpour.
“In a matter of five to ten minutes it went from just a few puddles to being totally flooded when the dam broke,” Ms Haughland said.
“At one stage most of the cul-de-sac was under water. We had to get the cars out and everything.”
Geeveston Community Centre program manager Trish Tinkler said they’d spend the next week getting in touch with the hardest hit members of the community.
The centre’s Scrubby Hill Farm, which is used to feed struggling locals, also suffered significant damage after it was submerged.
However Ms Tinkler said at times like these the Geeveston community showed its true colours, with an army of volunteers springing to the aid of their neighbours.
In particular, Ms Tinkler said they had the volunteer SES and TFS brigades to thank for preventing the worst of the damage.
“Before we even realised how much danger we were in they were putting out sandbags and helping people in high risk areas,” Ms Tinkler said.
“They just appeared from nowhere and are very much the unsung heroes of the valley. They hold the community up.”
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Originally published as ‘Unsung heroes’: Volunteers spring to action in flood aftermath
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