NSW floods crisis: Waterlogged locals swamped by that sinking feeling of deja vu

When the water began to rise ominously towards his restaurant, at the fork of the Hawkesbury and Colo River, for the fourth time in less than two years Darren ­Osmotherly felt his stomach drop.

Paradise Cafe owner Darren Osmotherly in his restaurant situated at the fork of the Colo and Hawkesbury rivers.

When the water began to rise ominously towards his restaurant, at the fork of the Hawkesbury and Colo River, for the fourth time in less than two years Darren ­Osmotherly felt his stomach drop.

Mr Osmotherly, who has owned the Paradise Cafe – a ­waterskiing mecca in Lower Portland, northwest of Sydney, known for its pizzas – for 15 years and had never seen his venue flood until the past 18 months. Since then it has been threatened by four different floods, with water rising high enough to creep into the restaurant on three occasions.

When torrential rain began to pour over the weekend, experience kicked into gear and he, partner Deborah and a devoted group of staff began moving chairs, tables and cooking equipment to the carpark at the back of the property to save them from the rising water.

By Monday afternoon the water had soaked the inside of the restaurant – which had just undergone a renovation from the previous flood – to knee height and was threatening to engulf the carpark, forcing them to begin taking salvaged belongings up to the roof.

“We’re still running on adrenaline at the moment, most of my staff left at 1am … and were taken out by barge. We were here late and got a few hours’ sleep and were back by 4.30am,” Mr Osmotherly said.

“I just had a painter redo all the settings last week. We had two lots of ceilings put in now but it just doesn’t stop raining, it’s pouring.

“In the first flood we lost the equipment and this time we’re saving it. It cost us about $400,000 in the March flood last year.”

The flood in March this year saw the water rise over the roof of the restaurant – costing him about $85,000 in repairs – after it became uninsurable due to the high flood risk. “We can’t get insurance here, we used to be able to pay flood insurance of $40,000 a year or higher, but now they won’t supply insurance at all,” he said.

Mr Osmotherly said he was already bracing for the familiar but horrendous post-flood clean-up, when the stinking mess of sewage, deep-fryer oil and debris from the river would need to be expunged.

“You get over it in stages – it comes in waves, now it’s gone over the carpet inside, then you hope it doesn’t go over the bar; every time it goes up another metre you just hope it won’t go any further,” he said. “It just keeps pouring, it’s like slow motion, you feel like you’re in an elevator and the water is coming in, but you don’t have much room left – it’s claustrophobic.”

Mr Osmotherly said he was more worried about the economic recovery this time because winter months were usually his quietest, and many residents in neighbouring caravan parks and houses had been forced to flee. But he viewed it as a man-made problem.

“It’s the Warragamba Dam, they can’t keep it full, they need to keep the dam at 80 per cent. But if they raise the dam wall it will take five years to do it, and they can’t manage a bigger one if they can’t manage a small one. They’ve got to manage what we’ve got.”