The mere sound of a fan takes Grace Langlands back to being one of the first to attend a deadly flash flood that almost wiped out a New South Wales town.
WARNING: This story contains descriptions that may distress some readers.
She and a team of three other State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers rushed in to help as countless helicopters flew overhead rescuing people from their Eugowra homes.
A full-time registered nurse in nearby Orange, Ms Langlands helped set up a makeshift hospital at the showground.
"It was like a war zone," she said.
It was the first flood she had attended.
Ms Langlands helped people who were injured and others who just needed care and warmth.
"I found it did affect me for a while after," she said.
"[The fan was] when I realised I needed to stop and take care of myself because I wasn't going as well as I expected."
Ms Langlands was one of thousands of volunteers across the state who sacrificed days, weeks and even months of their own time to help communities during last year's flood crisis.
Traumatic memories
There was one incident in particular that continued to affect Peter Turner when he returned home to Sydney after attending floods in several locations.
The swift water rescue technician from the Fairfield SES unit was deployed to Narrandera, where he was working to save a pony.
"I couldn't get him out, he was caught in the fence and the poor little bugger, he drowned in my arms," Mr Turner said.
"The water was over his head, I think it was just his eyes and the top of his nose that were up above the water.
"That really affected me for a while because I was thinking what other way could I have done it."
Mr Turner had taken about three weeks of annual leave from his job in security, leaving behind loved ones, to respond to flooding in Wee Waa, Narrandera, Euabalong and Wiseman's Ferry.
"That's what I'm prepared to do, my other half says, 'Peter, go and do what you want to do,'" he said.
"Sometimes she's a bit worried.
"She sees on TV, or she hears me say, we went and rescued a person in that car and we got them out and then the car washed away."
In addition to rescuing people, a koala was among the animals he saved.
"He climbed up a tree, fell back into the water, so we put him in a box," Mr Turner said.
"[The veterinarians] said his core temperature, he didn't have one, they were surprised that he didn't die."
While the koala's chance of survival was slim at first, about a day later Mr Turner was asked to release it back into the wild.
A chat with a prince
Ms Langlands described her SES team at Orange, in the NSW Central West, as "family".
So much so, her unit controller walked her down the aisle.
Her work at Eugowra was so profound Prince William wanted to hear about it.
Ms Langlands was one of three volunteers who spoke to him on a Zoom call for about 40 minutes.
"All of us had experienced floods of some sort over the last six months," she said.
"He allowed us to do a lot of the talking where he was really just listening and prompting very intelligent conversations about what happened.
"I was on a high for a good week or so, that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Ms Langlands said Prince William asked her what she had learnt from the Eugowra floods.
"One of the big things I learnt was to pack my own Panadol because when we got there we realised we only had one foil of tablet Panadol for everyone," she said.
"A lot of us just kept going with headaches so we can give it to people that had been pulled out of the water."
Ms Langlands also received a letter from the Prince after the chat, thanking her and the Eugowra SES unit for their efforts.
Giving up time for others
Splitters Creek Rural Fire Service (RFS) deputy captain John Townsend spent about two months away from his home last year responding to flood events in six different locations, including Lismore.
"I'd never really been to any flood recovery situations until last year and it was a real eye-opener," he said.
Mr Townsend is semi-retired. This meant he was able to dedicate time to helping communities.
But he said it was not that simple for others.
"We did have a lot of trouble with getting crews to be available because a lot of them just can't get time off work," Mr Townsend said.
"A five-day stretch is a long time for some people to have off work and if you've got to take annual leave it's pretty tough on people."
'Somebody's got to do it'
Bulgandra RFS senior deputy captain Robert Webster, who is also part of the SES, has helped with flood recovery efforts in Lismore, Ballina, Deniliquin, Moama, Forbes and Condobolin.
Mr Webster spent a few weeks on the road while he was in between contract jobs.
"I'm one of those fellas who like to put my hand up whenever there's a deployment, so my family's pretty well up to speed with me now," he said.
Mr Webster, who has been with the RFS for 20 years and the SES for 16 years, said volunteering was a part of life in small communities such as Bulgandra.
"We live out in a rural area so our brigade would be classified as rural, remote," he said.
"When you're out in these areas most people just volunteer because somebody's got to do it."
