NSW south coast out of the fires into floods of misfortune

NSW south coast communities have began rebuilding for a second time this year after the weekend’s lashing of severe storms.

The Shoalhaven River surges into and over Riverview Caravan Park and the Shoalhaven Ski Park in Nowra. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

NSW south coast communities have began rebuilding for a second time this year after the weekend’s lashing of severe storms.

The previously bush fire-­ravaged regions welcomed easing conditions on Monday, and began preparing for the clean-up process ahead.

Kylie Druce, who co-owns a caravan park with her husband, said she would need to spend days cleaning up the damage left behind by the storm.

“It’s been a tough year. It’s been a tough year on everybody. Firstly, the fires where we were evacuated and lost a lot of customers. Then the February floods and then coronavirus hit,” she said.

 

Ms Druce spent Monday surveying damage from the weekend’s storms after a sleepless night towing resident’s vans to higher ground through flood ­waters. “There’s lot of tree debris and branches around. Lots of buoys get dragged down in the current. We’ve seen surfboards and paddle boards floating down the river,” the co-owner of Shoalhaven Ski Park said.

Ms Druce, who has lived in the region for 15 years, said she had never experienced such severe flooding before.

“I didn’t sleep last night because you have to be vigilant watching the river but when I went outside in the morning, it was incredibly high. I got a shock and we were very grateful we had pulled so many vans away.”

Shoalhaven City Council mayor Amanda Findley said the region’s residents had displayed unity and strength after a series of disasters this year.

“This is our third flood event to deal with in a six-months period and that’s also off the back of the bushfires that decimated the Shoalhaven and COVID which has been experienced nationally,” she said.

“Our community has shown remarkable resilience and that resilience has been backed up by a never-ending tireless effort from our SES and RFS volunteers.”

The state’s emergency services received more than 1600 call outs at the weekend and Monday morning, including more than 700 from the south coast.

A site shed negotiates the river’s flooded waters. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

On Sunday evening, evacuations were ordered for coastal communities as the towns braced for severe weather conditions.

NSW SES Commissioner Carlene York said the wild weather had inundated the service.

“Most of the calls were in ­relation to trees, storm damage and roofs leaking and property damaging.

“There were 40 flood rescues we performed for people caught in flood waters.”

The Shoalhaven River was expected to peak at 4.4m at 1pm, but the Bureau of Meteorology said it reached 4.13m at Nowra at midday Monday. The river then began to recede as conditions in the region eased.

Up to 300mm of rain fell in some areas at the weekend, including Nowra boat shed, which recorded 373mm and Broughton Creek which received 369mm.

The BOM’s Alex Majchrowski said the highest rainfall totals in 24 hours to 9am on Monday were in the NSW Southern Highlands