Michael McNamara and son Conner rescued 16 people from Lismore floods

With their livelihoods washed away in murky water, some victims of NSW’s flood disaster are experiencing anxiety and mental distress for the first time in their lives.

It was supposed to be a 15-minute trip when Michael McNamara and son Conner set off in their 4m fishing boat to fetch his stranded father-in-law from a house in ­Lismore.

But the mission to pick up George Morschel, 84, took eight hours in swirling, murky water, as they went back and forth six times to rescue the screaming helpless trapped by 15m high floodwaters.

Michael McNamara and his son Conner rescued 16 people in their boat from Lismore floodwaters. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Those terrifying eight hours, most of it spent alone high on the water battling the force of currents, saw welder Michael, 54, and his son Conner, 21, pick up 16 people, 10 dogs, 10 chickens, three cats and two guinea pigs.

“We saw this lady flashing her torch light through the opening at the top of her ­window – she was neck high in water standing on a pile of furniture. We couldn’t drive past, she looked terrified,” said Michael, whose truck body manufacturing company Vince McNamara Engineers lost $300,000 worth of machinery in the Lismore floods.

“Conner steered the boat over and held onto the roof gutters but the current kept pulling the boat.

“She handed us her two dachshunds and a cat – she lost one of them in floods – and she dragged her into the boat. She fell into the boat and lay there crying.

“Minutes later her house was completely submerged in water.”

The woman, Christine ­Anderson, 63, was traumatised by the ordeal and is now in a shelter coming to terms with losing her three bedroom home, in which she was locked for five hours until she was rescued at 9am last ­Monday.

Michael also ferried to safety his wife’s brother and wife, Brett and Bonnie Morschel, their four neighbours, another daughter, a father, and a couple and their two teenage daughters and two friends trapped in a house.

“We’re not heroes, we’re just two fellows. Please don’t call us heroes, anyone would have done the same,” Michael said.

Geoff Anderson and his daughter Yumi Anderson, 11, cleaning out his mothers home on Elliott Rd in South Lismore. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Yumi says her grandmother is “really sad” about her destroyed house. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Christine Anderson’s granddaughter Yumi, 11, was on Friday cleaning up her grandma’s destroyed home.

“The house stinks and it’s all muddy and dirty, it was ­really cluttered before, at least there’s no more mess in the house,” she said.

“Grandma is really sad, she has been crying a lot, but the other day, she has long hair, I brushed it for her and she said she felt a little happier.”

Volunteer Dave Phillips, 63, secretary of the Bangalow Rugby Club, said it was heartbreaking to see the enormity of flood devastation caused.

“One old lady was evacuated out of her two storey weatherboard home by her family and returned several days later to see it completely destroyed,” he said.

“She wasn’t so bothered about losing her home, we found her standing in the kitchen polishing her china tea cups.

“It was heartbreaking to see.”

SYDNEY SUBURBS REMAIN ADIFT

By Jessica McSweeney

THE sun has come out and the waters are slowly receding, but properties are still under water from Richmond to Upper Macdonald and many remain cut-off from Sydney.

Wilberforce business owner Gerard Hodgskin, wife Raelene and their children spent yesterday as they will the coming weeks: shovelling mud from once clear swimming pools, dumping debris from submerged buildings and replacing expensive equipment.

Raelene and husband Gerard Hodgskin pictured at the kiosk to the Butterfly Farm, their family business. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Rod Hodgskin cleaning up the property. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Hodgskin, 55, said the flood had given him anxiety for the first time in his life.

“It’s horrible, I start to understand now for people that suffer from these illnesses how hard it must be for them … you wear out, your body wears out,” he said as he worked to clean up the family’s Butterfly Farm and Indy 800 Kart racing track, which was completely submerged by the flooded Hawkesbury River.

Wilberforce butcher Dean Diasinos in his store, which was completely flooded after being renovated last year post-floods. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

At Windsor, the Hawkesbury River was at 9.9m on Friday afternoon, well above moderate flood levels.

North Richmond and Wisemans Ferry are still cut off from the other side of the river.

At his Wilberforce butcher shop, Dean Diasinos on Friday said he was still cut off from his wife and children on the other side of the river.

Originally published as Michael McNamara and son Conner rescued 16 people from Lismore floods