In Lismore, north-eastern NSW, a house was pictured almost entirely submerged by murky flood water. In the photograph posted to Instagram by a local cafe on Monday afternoon, only a pitched tin roof and treetops are visible above the waterline.
Images like this one have documented from the ground the destruction of unprecedented flood water as the regional city was hit overnight.
Across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, pictures of boats transporting people through residential streets, pets curled up on high kitchen counters, and of families holding each other in distress in front of homes under water, have told a story of an unfolding disaster.
Early on Monday morning, the NSW State Emergency Service sent out urgent evacuation orders to the Lismore levee due to “dangerous and rapid river level rises” in the region. The Bureau of Meteorology expected flood waters in Wilsons River to peak at 14.40m on Monday afternoon – surpassing the 12.27m of Lismore’s February 1954 floods.
As of 2:52pm today, Wilsons River at Lismore was at 14.37m. The BoM advised “further rises are possible”.
This is devastating - Lismore is currently under water
— Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) February 28, 2022
Homes and lives are being destroyed in what are the worst floods Lismore has ever faced.
These floods are wreaking havoc on our state and this will only get worse. pic.twitter.com/Q5STR23VIU
While the SES was reportedly inundated by more than 1,000 calls, stranded locals in Lismore were desperately reaching out for help via social media.
Sue Higginson tweeted: “This is catastrophic … Lismore needs back up. People are on and in their roof, some are screaming for their lives and water is still rising. Friends are rescuing friends.”
In Lismore we have done floods for ever. This is not a flood - this is catastrophic. This is extreme. This is climate change. Lismore needs back up. People are on and in their roof some are screaming for their lives and water is still rising. Friends are rescuing friends. pic.twitter.com/NwikdHTX0V
— Sue Higginson (@SueHigginson_) February 27, 2022
In a thread from 9:48am on Monday, Sam Connor had been tweeting out the addresses and calls for help of people stranded in flood waters.
“188 Casino St, they are inside the roof. 2 children who can’t swim, an elderly couple (one with disability which stops her from using her muscles) and a 28 yr old woman, please please help,” one Tweet read.
This Is Keen St in Lismore. The footage coming through is absolutely devastating. I honestly don’t think our town will completely recover after this flood.
— Korra_Ryan (@Korra_Ryan) February 28, 2022
📷- B Rob#lismore #LismoreFloods #floods pic.twitter.com/cDfMJtkiiN
“13 Rhodes Street South Lismore, elderly lady stuck by herself, very scared for her life, can’t climb onto the roof. 4th house [on] the right please help,” read another.
And the list went on. Countless grandparents, people alone with their pets, families with disabled children – all either stuck on roofs to avoid water rising above waist level, or unable to get to the safety of a roof at all.
From #Lismore -
— Sam Connor (@criprights) February 27, 2022
My Neice Tanya Collins and daughter are at 8 Cromer st and getting very cold. Desperately needing help. Cannot get into there ceiling space.
Rodney Bray My brother-in-law is at 12 Cromer Street and will be attempting to get onto the roof soon. 3 adults 3 dogs
The calls came from locals stuck themselves, or concerned relatives and friends. Most were preceded with an address and punctured with an “urgent!” or “please help”.
“162 union street, my father is trying to stay afloat with a broken back and is near exhausted to keep himself up. He is stuck in my room the door is jammed, windows broken, please help him.”
Come hell or high water. Goodby house. Rescued to nearby higher land. It’s pummeling down and hasn’t stopped for at least 10 hours. #lismorefloods #nswpol #auspol pic.twitter.com/Fn6zJhRyLO
— Eddie Lloyd (@worldzonfire) February 28, 2022
“Goodbye house,” said another Twitter user, Eddie Lloyd, who was rescued to higher land after her home was pummelled with water that has surpassed roof level.
North of Lismore, on a farm in Murwillumbah, Twitter user Kerrie Davies shared an image of a goat standing atop a small hut overlooking a flooded field. “Worried about the livestock and animals … who are trying to survive,” she tweeted.
A murwillumbah farm northern nsw Amongst so much effort to rescue people, worried about the livestock & animals too who are trying to survive in the Lismore Tweed floods pic.twitter.com/ZAr8klH6NG
— Kerrie Davies (@KerrieMDavies) February 28, 2022
And in Chinderah, a town in the Tweed Shire just one hour drive north of Lismore, Kelly and Mick Hobbins sat on the couch on their porch, waiting. Flood waters were lapping, almost literally, at their doorstep.
“What else can you do?” said Mick, when interviewed by Guardian Australia.
The couple has lived in Chinderah for 17 years. The area, on the southern banks of the Tweed River near Kingscliff, is known as flood prone, but this was only the second time their house has been at risk. In 2017, water came through and forced them to relocate for 11 months.
“They said it was a one-in-100-year flood, not every five years,” Mick said.
An evacuation order for Chinderah and nearby Fingal Head is current for the next 36 hours, and locals are waiting to see what Tuesday morning’s high tide brings.
Len was clutching his thongs under his fluro yellow rain jacket, having just waded through thigh-deep water to check out the Chinderah flood post and see how things compare.
“It’s about one thong length lower than 2017 at the moment,” he said.
A few doors down, Christine McDonald and her neighbour Mark Curran stood in a frontyard lagoon. It had flooded Mark’s downstairs, where the washing machine and dryer were up on a table. His thoughts were with neighbours around the corner who brought their newborn baby home last night, only to be forced to evacuate in the early hours.
At Smiley Tots childcare centre, the backyard playground would normally be home to raucous games by mid-morning on a Monday. Instead, a football floated aimlessly in the flood waters as they hoped to avoid a repeat of 2017, which saw the entire playground needing replacing.
“It’s just rainwater there at the moment,” said part owner Greg Best. “So long as that horrible brown flood water doesn’t come through, I think we’ll be all right.” His wife, Erin, is originally from Lismore and has been checking in with friends and family there.
“My girlfriend’s dad is standing on a ladder in his kitchen waiting to get rescued,” she said.
“He’s 70 years old and can’t swim.
“We’re lucky we haven’t got anything like that.”
