‘Good vibes’ and sense of community remain strong as Sydney begins clean up

The floodwaters lap at the ground floor of every house in Mawson Place in Pitt Town on Sydney’s north-western fringe. Instead of parked cars on their driveways, they have floating canoes, jet skis and tinnies.

Matt Elgood summoned friends and family to help move belongings out of the lower level of the home he shares with his girlfriend on Tuesday night, but the water beat them.

Matt Elgood (wearing a green jumper) and friends on the second storey of his home in Pitt Town. Credit: Brook Mitchell

Within 30 minutes the water had started to spill into their home, damaging a lounge and flooring.

“We went through the one last year, it got about a metre [up] the front door,” he said.

This week’s floods let 600mm of rain into their home.

By Wednesday afternoon, floodwaters were slowly receding.

For his part, Mr Elgood was watching Netflix and enjoying booze and “good vibes” delivered by friends and family on canoes.

“I’ve got some good people around. We’ve got pretty much all we’d need,” he said. “If the water goes down before dark, then we will start cleaning and if it doesn’t, we will just keep waiting and watching Netflix.”

Nearby, Steve Nicholson was choosing to see the flood as “the bad memories being washed away”.

Forced to close his business during the pandemic, having lost one of his dogs last week and breaking up with his partner, Mr Nicholson had a rough year. In the search of a new chapter, he was finalising the sale of his home when the floodwaters hit.

Steve Nicholson’s home remains inundated with floodwaters.Credit: Brook Mitchell

The sale of the house is now up in the air, but Mr Nicholson is sure of one thing - he won’t be buying in another flood zone.

“It is what it is. Mother Nature can be cruel at times,” he said.

The much-longed for sunshine that arrived in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon is likely to stick around until Saturday night, with only occasional showers forecast until the weekend.

“Any rainfall that does come in at that time is unlikely to contribute to causing rivers to rise,” Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.

The strong winds that have plagued the state are also set to weaken, although humid nights are likely to return later this month.

As the extreme weather dissipated, de-humidifiers hummed across North Manly where a number of low-lying homes were inundated.

Lachlan Mackay was at work when the deluge hit the northern beaches. Traffic and road closures prevented him from returning home to North Manly in his car, so he parked in nearby Allambie Heights and ran to the edge of the floodwater. To access his home on the other side of the creek and collect his three-year-old son from the nearby childcare, Mr Mackay waded and swam through the floodwater.

“It was about chest height for most of it, I was lucky, but I did have to do a bit of breaststroke.

“It was too late though, the water had gotten into the house,” Mr Mackay said on Wednesday.

Lachlan Mackay (left) removes water-damaged items from his home. Credit: Nick Moir

He then waded through waist-deep water to his son’s childcare to collect him.

“He was loving it, he was like ‘Is the house swimming Daddy?,’” he told the Herald as he, his wife and friends removed sodden carpet and ruined furniture from the home.

Next door, Neil and Alice Agar were sorting through the detritus of their newly finished granny flat.

“My [80-year-old] father has just moved in here, it was all done. He was excited about his 40-inch TV,” said Mrs Agar, whose Mazda CX3 was written off by floodwater.

Further down the street, Ed Guz had just returned to his home after evacuating with his wife and their poodle to his daughter’s house in nearby Freshwater.

“The fridge was floating.

“It came on so suddenly, we couldn’t believe it.”

Among the water damage, flood-affected communities are also grappling with landslides. Two landslips have destroyed access to homes and left residents on Narrabeen’s Nareen Parade anxious.

A resident looks over a landslide at Narrabeen on the northern beaches.Credit: Nick Moir

“I was working from home and could hear the cracking and see the trees sliding down, so I left last night,” said Trae Thomas, whose next door neighbour’s driveway - shared with five houses atop the escarpment - was destroyed. She evacuated to her father’s house in Bayview, where she planned to spend her Thursday evening.

On the other side of the city, police on Wednesday afternoon located the body of delivery driver Xianbin Liu in flood water in Greendale.

The 50-year-old was reported missing by his boss when he failed to arrive at a 6am delivery on Wednesday and the truck he was driving was located submerged on Wolstenhome Avenue.

“The body is yet to be formally identified but is believed to be that of the missing man,” police said.

He is the third person to die in flood water in Sydney, after the bodies of Hemalathasolhyr Satchithanantham, 67, and her son Bramooth, 34, were found in a Wentworthville stormwater canal on Tuesday.

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