In the immediate hours and days after a deadly flash flood destroyed most of Eugowra, in the NSW Central West, there was a sense that the town could not come back from such a disaster.
But something in the town of 700 people has shifted since the flood swept through on Monday morning.
With each day that passes there is a growing sense of optimism that the people of Eugowra will stick around and rebuild, and businesses will open up again.
With retirement an option, mechanic Greg Agustin was among those who had decided it was not worth reopening.
He said the scale of the damage in his shop showed the "force of water was unreal".
Now, he is contemplating a rebuild.
"It depends on how the town goes and if they still need work done, well I can still do it," he said.
Mr Agustin said plans for essential services such as the post office, bank and Centrelink to reopen from Monday was part of a shift in attitudes.
Those services are housed in the Rural Transaction Centre.
Centre committee member Brendan Mansbridge said it was important to get things moving to "try and get some normality in the town".
"If people can see that the town is starting to get back to normal again — there's going to be those services there that they need — hopefully it will brighten their outlook," he said.
"And let them see that there is a future in this town."
The centre will start mail services on Monday before trying to get the other services online.
The first step is to try and dry out all the letters and parcels that were left soaked by the event.
"With our obligations as a post office we can't just throw it all out, if it's got a legible address we have to try and deliver it even if it's ruined," Mr Mansbridge said.
"So we're trying to dry parcels and letters out so we can get them eventually to the people where they are addressed to."
The SES conducted 284 damage assessments at Eugowra on Wednesday, with 225 buildings deemed "damaged" by flooding and many considered uninhabitable.
Two people have died.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet's commitment to rebuild the town during a visit on Friday has also given residents new hope the community will return to what it once was.
People have been invited to apply for a temporary home to be put on their block where their homes once stood strong.
The government will then look at more permanent options.
Mr Perrottet rejected suggestions that the town should not be rebuilt because a flood had passed through.
"At the moment we're in a state that everywhere you go you are at risk of being flooded," he said.
"That is the reality whether that's in metropolitan Sydney or regional NSW … with all the heavy rainfall that we've had.
"We can't change the sins of the past, what we can do is make improvements going forward and not make those mistakes again."
Mr Agustin said the town was "picking up" before the disaster and was hopeful it would get back to where it was.
"With people coming in you can drive past here sometimes on a weekend and there's probably a hundred people [in the new café]," he said.
"They wander around town looking at murals and everything, it's become a real little tourist thing.
"It would be a shame if this dies."
Mr Mansbridge agrees.
"We're hoping to raise a family in this town so we're here for the long haul and want to try and get the town rebuilt."
