Flood relief campaigner Angela Beutel thought she couldn’t be any more shocked than she was when she first visited flood-ravaged communities in northern NSW — that was until her own home was inundated by waters from the overflowing Campaspe River on Friday night.
Her home, in Hotham St, has been severely damaged by the floodwaters — quite a shock considering long-time residents of the street assured her she was safe from the floodwater.
As best she can guess, and again based on “local knowledge’’, Angela said the overflow from the Campaspe weir put extreme pressure on the drainage system and the floodwaters made their way through paddocks at the rear of Hotham St.
“There were logs, fence posts, a variety of things, scattered through the paddocks at the rear of the street,” she said.
Angela, a member of the Rotary Club of Rochester, has twice made the 1500-metre trek to support her “adopted’’ towns of Coraki and Woodburn — two of the towns that are in the process of re-building after the Richmond and Wilson Rivers burst their banks.
She has had several text messages from those communities, from people she has befriended on those two trips.
Some have even offered to return items which were donated by Rochester residents after the NSW February flood events.
“They are still a long way from settled up there,” she said.
“Now I know what the people up north felt like, in their houses the water was up to the ceiling.”
Angela had only been home four days before the flood alert was sounded in Rochester.
“I slept at home on Thursday night, then the police asked us to evacuate on Friday,” she said.
“I helped people sandbag on Thursday, but didn’t bother doing any for myself, because our street was supposed to be safe.”
Angela, a member of the Rotary club for 10 months, did her first flood relief trip to NSW in May.
“They copped two lots, both in February, and there were 10 deaths,” she said.
“They are slowly getting back on their feet.”
She has been staying with her son on O’Donnell Rd since Friday, about 5km out of Rochester to the west.
“We went back this morning (Sunday),” she said.
“The force must have been pretty good, because the fridge was upright and still plugged in when I left.
“When we walked back in it was on the ground and unplugged.
“The whole house has had two feet of water through it. Even the clothes hanging in the wardrobe were wet on the bottom.”
Angela has only been in the house for two years and said there was very little that was salvageable.
“In the second bedroom the bed and tables were moved, the book case had been knocked over and the books had been floating in water,” she said.
“When I left I only took enough clothes for a few days away.”
Angela’s neighbours have also been affected by the water.
“I really don’t know what I will do. Hopefully the insurance will help me out a bit,” she said.
“I am a little lucky to be in a service club. There have been a lot of phone calls offering support.”
She said she fully understood the irony of the situation, having campaigned so strongly — and successfully — in Rochester for the community to support Coraki and Woodburn.
Rotary president Heather Watson said another member of the club had also returned home to a flood-ravaged house.
She is at the other end of town, in Pascoe St, which is on higher ground.
“I have already been contacted by clubs from Bendigo who are looking to help,” Mrs Watson said.
“Some Melbourne clubs have made contact with us and they will be either coming up or doing some fundraising.”
The Rotary club will also work with Rochester Community House to do what they can.
“We are just waiting to see what needs to be done,” she said.
Mrs Watson said she was a member of Rotary during the 2011 floods, but Graeme Nelson had done most of the planning — in regard to flood-recovery work.
Mrs Watson and a group of volunteers, headed up by Julie Mann, have worked tirelessly at the court house to develop a community garden.
“I have not been able to get to the west side to check out the damage,” she said.
“I’m not sure how many Saturdays we have put in there, but Julie Mann has done so much work.”
Mrs Watson said she expected most of Rochester’s service clubs to be involved in the clean-up operation.