A teenager and his mates have used tinnies to bring more than 40 people and their pets to safety during an 11-hour rescue mission in Victoria.
After being told it was too late to leave, residents in parts of Shepparton were left stranded on their properties as they watched the Goulburn River peak at more than 12 metres.
Jack Stagg, 18, and his mate Digby took a boat out through Mooroopna to see the damage when they started getting requests for assistance.
"I thought people would have left already, but there were a lot of people needing help and a lot of people staying in their houses with water pumping through like a river," Mr Stagg said.
"They were pretty scared because they'd called [emergency services] several hours ago and they hadn't shown up yet.
"They were pretty desperate to get out."
The backlog of rescues has since cleared but at its peak emergency crews were inundated with requests and there were long delays.
"We were pulling the boats right up over their garden fences into their doors," Mr Stagg said.
"The nose of the boat was into their doors because there was water in their houses."
State Emergency Service deputy incident controller Chris Eagles admired their efforts but urged people to stay out of floodwaters.
"Whilst their intent is admirable I do encourage people not to go and do that work," he said.
"Ring the SES, ring police so we can send the ADF or SES volunteers out to do that work, rather than put yourself in danger."
'Just trying to help'
The teens were overwhelmed by the number of requests and called family friends Jay Tozer and Mitch Carter for support.
"It got to about 9pm and I knew he was struggling so we just grabbed the boat and took off to help him," Mr Tozer said.
Over the next eleven hours, the team would rescue more than 40 people and their pets.
"We just got them in the boat, got them to dry land, and told them to walk out from there," Mr Tozer said.
Mr Tozer said many of the people he rescued were of diverse cultures who faced language barriers and he believed that may have been a factor in their decision to stay.
"The SES was under a hell of a lot of pressure," he said.
"A lot of messages we got were from people saying, 'We've been waiting nine, 10 hours — no-one is getting to us.'
"We wouldn't have done anything that was unsafe — we were just trying to help."
Mr Stagg then left the boat at home to help farmers in nearby Undera move silage and hay to higher ground as they watched the water creep onto their property from the Goulburn River.
"It's about a mile away from where we're carting the hay from, so it's getting closer," Mr Stagg said.
"All animals are evacuated, so it's just getting their food out now."
Mr Tozer, who has a plumbing business, has sent his staff to help community members wherever they can.
Costs stacking up
Terminus Hotel owners Brooke and Greg Brassill have been forced to keep the pub closed.
They remain cut off from the main street and isolated at their home.
"We're not sure when we will be able to reopen to be able to start making money again," Ms Brassil said.
"COVID was adaptable.
"We had options — we flicked to takeaway and delivery, but in this particular scenario there's not much adapting.
"It's just waiting for the water to go down."
Ms Brassil said they considered themselves lucky compared to others in the community, including Mathew Boyle and his family, who made the decision to evacuate on Sunday.
Mr Boyle kayaked more than a kilometre through waist-high flood waters to see the damage at his home.
"We pulled the pin … as it was getting dark — the water was about 20 millimetres off going into the house," he said.
"We've had about two inches of water through the house.
"All the flooring has to come up, the plasterboards are wet.
"It's demoralising — you work so hard to try and save it and unfortunately Mother Nature wins."
