Residents have described how flood waters moved through the small rural town of Molong in central-west New South Wales “like an ocean”, flooding homes and businesses overnight.
“It is horrific, like Molong is devastated and every single business has been affected today,” publican Kim Stojanov, who owns the Freemason’s Hotel with her husband David, said. “We’re lucky no one was killed.”
David Stojanov was trapped on the pub’s balcony on Sunday night as flood water rushed down the street.
“They were actually quite scared at one point on the veranda because of the containers and the things that were coming their way, like it was going to take the posts out,” Stojanov said.
“Then that was smashing into the posts on the side of the pub, and they were actually quite concerned that the pub was going to get taken out.
“It’s either going to make or break you, and unfortunately, I think it’s broken us.”
Dozens of people sheltered at an RSL overnight, as vast swathes of the central-west were battered by rain and powerful storms, with the force of the flood waters smashing shop windows and knocking out the back wall of the local supermarket.
“Four to five business windows were smashed, refrigerators have been ruined, the pharmacy, supermarket and newsagent have gone under,” business owner Robert Carrol said.
“We’re only a small town, it is literally one main street, and we’re rallying together today, but it’s just devastating, it’s hard to see friends and colleagues so hurt.”
Stojanovic said the damage from the flooding was worse than the devastating flood seen in the town in 2005. The fast-moving water cracked the windows of businesses along the main street and destroyed houses.
“We all were in there last time [in 2005] for the cleanup,” she said. “And to be honest, I don’t know if I could handle it this time.
“There’s containers that went through houses. There’s people that had water going through their windows.”
Major flooding is also occurring at Bathurst, west of the Blue Mountains, after heavy falls over the Macquarie River catchment on Sunday, with a possibility that levees around the regional city could overtop on Monday afternoon.
Carrol said he noticed the rain intensify in Molong around 11.30pm on Sunday night, saying the water quickly got to waist height before quickly subsiding.
“At close to midnight, I just told myself, ‘Oh God, here we go again.’ The sound of rain just got so intense.”
“It’s really so upsetting, we could lose between $40-50,000, and the town is going to lose out on the Christmas shopping period, it’s heart-wrenching.”
Lindsay has been a resident of the town for 65 years, and said he had never seen flooding like this before.
“It came in so fast at around 1am, with the water getting all the way up to the awnings of some shops on the main street. It roared through the town, it was like an ocean.”
“It was pulling up huge trees and dragging them through town. We had some sandbags set up, but they just did nothing, so much of the main street is ruined.”
“There’s just so much devastation, in the short term, there’s no fuel, no supermarket, no restaurants, it’s completely ruined the town.”
He said that while power had been restored to some sections of the town on Monday afternoon, residents were still taking stock of everything that was damaged.
“We saw people crying, gutted at it all, they put everything into those shops. We’re pulling together now, that’s how country towns are, but some people are just distraught.”
State emergency services and Fire and Rescue crews have arrived to help with the massive clean up, as the water continues to recede.
It comes after both agencies worked through the night, doorknocking homes, beginning evacuations and helping the ADF rescue people stranded on roofs.
About three-quarters of the historic town is damaged, with numerous roads ripped up and the new hockey field destroyed.
Fire crews also rescued two people and their dog from knee-deep water inside a house, another couple from the top floor of a motel and waded through chest-high water with a police officer to reach another woman stranded in her inundated home.
At least two large shipping containers were carried through the centre of the historic town by flood waters and are blocking the Mitchell Highway.
Premier Dominic Perrottet urged people in flood-hit areas to follow emergency warnings, saying they were not released “for the sake of it”.
Sean Kearns, NSW SES assistant commissioner, said there was still concern for Molong, Eugowra, Canowindra, and Condoblin in particular, while warning that rivers and catchments have been quick to flood due to the ongoing rain.
“What we are seeing at the moment is any reasonable amount of rain is actually leading to flash flooding which can catch people out unawares,” he told ABC News.
“The predictions we have are that this is going to continue for months. Some of these communities are going to keep on getting impacted as the rain comes and there’s predictions that it’s going to be quite a wet summer, at least until the end of December. So we are going to see a lot of weather systems occurring like this.”
In an afternoon update, the SES said it had responded to more that 855 requests for assistance and 204 flood rescues in 24 hours.
They responded to more than 140 flood rescues in Eugowra, which is being supported by 11 helicopter aviation assets as flood waters have completely isolated the township.
One in five residents in Eugowra have been rescued by helicopter or boat in the 24 hours to Monday afternoon.
Three new evacuation orders have been issued, including for people in low-lying areas of Eugowra, where flash-flooding is occurring as river levels continue to rise.
- With AAP
