The BWS bottle shop manager is among countless residents who have been displaced or face daunting clean-ups after history-making flash flooding in a city where six days later, whole resorts and beachfront blocks are still without power.

Originally from Phillip Island in Victoria, the 42-year-old was attracted to Hervey Bay for the lifestyle and together with her husband Matt and son Jed, settled in a rental on Freshwater St which became ground zero for the rain bomb sting in ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s tail last Sunday.

Pointing out the metre-high mudline (everything under which had to be thrown out) Mrs Arthur recalled the frightening moment she realised the rain, which reached up to 500mm in some parts of the city, was heavier than predicted and her life was in danger.

“I got up at 5:30am to go and check the drain, because it does fill up quickly,” she said.

“I went back to bed, got up half an hour later and by then it was coming out from under the walls.

“Our fridge fell over and blocked the backdoor.

“We couldn’t get out because we had the front doors sandbagged.

The Arthur family had to throw clothes in plastic bags, feeding them to a neighbour through a gap in the door which they then had to squeeze through themselves.

Tearing up, Mrs Arthur replayed her TikTok video published hours after the flooding, which showed the extent of her home’s damage.

Just down the street, youth worker Tracey Bell had arrived home from Brisbane on Monday morning to find her flat soaked.

“My daughter and family were here on Sunday and the water just kept rising and rising,” she said.

“She was hysterical and ringing me because I wasn’t here.

“It was just devastating.”

The flat, which also houses her daughter’s young family, only regained power on Tuesday afternoon after 48 agonising hours in the wet, dark conditions.

Later in the week, the 56-year-old still did not know the full extent of the financial damage but was heartbroken by the loss of “irreplaceable” family memorabilia, including old photo albums and furniture from her mother.

At the nearby Bay Apartments, cars were still trapped as trucks worked frantically to pump the remaining storm water from out of the undercroft.

Stephen Hill, a 70-year-old resident of the complex, estimated a loss of around $250,000 in cars alone.

By Wednesday morning, he had given up hope that his Dodge Challenger and Audi A5 could be salvaged after being submerged up to their roofs for multiple days.

Mr Hill was trying to remain upbeat about his position, feeling for other residents in the area.

“I’m obviously disappointed, but at the end of the day, cars are replaceable and there’s a lot more people that got a lot more damage,” he said.

“I don’t like seeing anything wasted in life, but it’s still a loss to society.”

The biggest challenge for other resorts including Riviera, where new bookings are understood to be on a three-month pause, is that underground carpark switchboards have been totally destroyed leading to ongoing outages which could stretch into weeks.

Another business hit hard was Wash Clip Groom, a popular dog salon on Bideford St, which intersects with Freshwater St at Torquay.

Owner Tracey Morgan has been left “in limbo” as she deals with two flooded residential properties and her business.

Water raced through the shop, destroying hydraulic wash tubs that allowed her to work with large dogs and contaminating expensive grooming products shipped from interstate.

“Realistically, we’re looking at around $50,000 in damage,” Ms Morgan said.

“One of my houses is all wet inside and then my other house has got sewerage through the front yard.

“I’ve got three different problems.”

Ms Morgan had to wait for the hours-long rain to stop before she could check on her shopfront, but CCTV showed multiple items floating around the shelves and counter.

“On that day, you just didn’t know when it was going to stop,” she said.

In photos: Floodwaters swamp Hervey Bay streets and homes

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“We’ve had to contact a hundred clients to say we can’t work this week.

“It’s just overwhelming.

“You try and salvage what you can, but realistically, you really have to draw that line.”

‘TOO HEARTBREAKING FOR ME TO COME BACK HERE’

On Main St, just doors away from where the Fraser Coast council is building its new headquarters, library and ironically, disaster management centre in an effort to establish a thriving CBD, more broken business owners can be found.

Among them is 70-year-old Linda Crew who fears her longstanding business, Dewdrop Inn Patchwork and Craft will never open again.

“I got here on Sunday morning and I was just in disbelief,” Linda said.

“It was very quick.

“It happened within an hour and a half.

“The quantity of water that couldn’t get away was amazing.”

A local through-and-through, Ms Crew grew up in Hervey Bay and has run her business for 26 years, moving into the Main St shopfront from Tavistock St nine years ago.

After starting the business with only $14,000 and hanging in there through the GFC and economic highs and lows, she estimated around $500,000 in stock was lost in minutes, with multiple destroyed sewing machines, one of which was brand new, accounting for most of the bill.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s just really heartbreaking,” Ms Crew said.

“You build a business and it’s your livelihood.

“I’ve lost everything, so what can you do?”

While she had an army of friends and family helping with the clean-up and a GoFundMe is in place to try and help, Ms Crew was unsure whether she would be able to start up her business again.

“It’s too heartbreaking for me to come back here,” she said.

Multiple neighbouring businesses including two nail salons are also closed indefinitely.

Just down the road at the Bay Plaza Complex which had a metre of water rush through, the debris-strewn car park remains blocked off and the Pialba Woolworths is not expected to re-open for three months.

Surrounding businesses including Baker’s Delight, Scotty’s Mad About Meats, OCD cafe, Friendlies pharmacy, Hairganics and The Reject Shop also remained closed at the time of publication and were expected to remain so for several weeks.

‘LET THEM KNOW THE NATION CARED’: INSIDE EMERGENCY RESPONSE, RECOVERY PLAN

For the people of Hervey Bay, the road to recovery from the floods which eclipsed anything seen in the whale-watching capital since the early 90s, will be long but not travelled alone.

Already, police, firefighters and the SES have worked tirelessly to help evacuate, rescue, advise and clean up and within 48 hours, the Army rolled in.

Lieutenant Andy Hvejsel said on Friday Hervey Bay had been identified as a heavily impacted area through the State Disaster Management Centre and the ADF “rapidly deployed a contingent of soldiers from the 6 Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR) mounted in Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles (PMVs) and supported by their medium logistics trucks on March 9.

“With a mixture hi-vis uniforms and camouflage fatigues operating across the township, it was determined that the ADF response could augment the civil response (led by QPS and QFD) by conducting door knocks on previously inaccessible streets, supporting the fire services by providing increased people power for the clearance of roadways and downed fences, conducting reconnaissance to identify the worst hit areas,” Lt Hvejsel said.

“The overall effect of these tasks was to help direct the civil recovery efforts to the most affected areas, highlighting streets and specific homes with the highest need for recovery efforts and open access routes to enable state lead recovery.

“Having the ADF out in the community was an overwhelmingly positive experience, with the locals routinely stopping us for a conversation, waving at the convoy passing by, and many residents of Hervey Bay shared their own stories of service.

“It was a humbling and motivating experience to bring some certainty to the community of Hervey Bay, many residents simply appreciated the presence of the ADF to let them know we were here with them and the nation cared.”

Along with the Community Recovery Hub which is already running out of Hervey Bay Library, the Fraser Coast council has set up a Business Recovery Hub at the Hervey Bay Jobs Ready office (65 Main St).

From this Monday, March 17, business owners will be able to access a one-stop flood help shop with services including guidance on recovery options, support services and low-interest loans provided by the state government, direct connections with state agencies and small business advisers and access to utility company contacts (Ergon, NBN) and flood assistance materials.

A small business counsellor available for the first three days to provide mental health support.

The hub opens at 12pm Monday to 6pm and then Tuesday from 10am to 6pm and Wednesday to Friday from 8am to 4pm.