HISTORY TALKING by HELEN McANULTY. HARD TIMES

We are in many ways fighting a war. A war against the virus. And, as in the 1940s, it is a world war. But, fortunately, in this war our houses are safe refuges.

We are not, as many of us did last summer, having to defend our houses against raging bushfires. And most of us are lucky enough to have access to adequate food, warmth and entertainment to help us through our isolation.

But there is yet another virulent weapon Mother Nature can throw at us and that is Flood! 

As with pandemic and fire, flood can devastate communities and impact heavily on the economy.

In spite of this, we have continued to build on flood plains and fertile soil which lie directly in the path of destructive overflows. Every few years floods have washed away our infrastructure and destroyed livelihoods.

One such event overwhelmed the western town of Nyngan in 1990 and saw an amazing rescue effort in which almost an entire community was evacuated without any loss of life but with enormous emotional effect on almost everyone involved.

As Orange dentist, Dr Tim McAnulty who was practising in the town at the time, said “It was declared to be a once in seven hundred-year event.”

“Heavy rain had been falling over a period of three weeks to the south-east in an area called the Mulla Cowl and, as the water wasn’t coming down the Bogan River, it was hard to know how much more would reach the town. In that flat plain country, a levy bank was needed so it was all hands on deck to build it.

“It held for four or five days until it breeched on 23rd April.

“The townspeople assembled on the slightly higher ground at the railway station and the day unfolded with the largest population evacuation since the Vietnam war in 1975. Sixteen helicopters ferried stranded townspeople from the station to the road from where they were taken to Dubbo by bus.”

They were billeted there for weeks, with few belongings and with no idea of how their homes were surviving.

Ann Cummings has her own memories of this catastrophe.

“Despite the seriousness of this event and the publicity it received, I really didn’t take it in until some time later as my family was going through its own crisis on our property.

“The country along the river had been under water for a while and it was some time since we had seen my parents who lived right on the riverbank about thirty-five miles up-stream from Nyngan.

“They were surrounded by water but the levee bank around the house seemed to be holding and my father had made arrangements for someone to come out from Tottenham with a boat to take them to safety.

“We weren’t much use as we were separated from them by fourteen miles of water, although the road to Tottenham was still open.

“At four o’clock that morning my parents woke up to find nearly eighteen inches of water through the house with more coming. Part of the levee bank had been washed away.

“The telephone wasn’t working but they had a two-way radio and Mum kept calling until one of the neighbours heard her. This neighbour contacted other neighbours who had a water-skiing boat and they made emergency plans for a rescue.

“Someone let us know but there was nothing we could do except, in my case, to pace the kitchen floor waiting for word that they were OK.

“While Mum was waiting for the rescuers she made her own preparations. Dad was recovering from a serious illness so she made him sit in a chair, wrapped in blankets. Meanwhile, she literally floated around the house, rescuing what she could to put it out of the reach of the water.

“They had both been in floods before -but nothing like this. She said later that one of the most frightening parts was when the water kept rising in the kitchen and the fridges and gas-stove started to float.

“Luckily the house was wired in two sections. The cut-out switch for everything in the lower half was tripped when the water came in, so the only live circuit was above the water line.

“Mum was only five feet tall and the water reached four inches above the kitchen benches. Luckily, they were rescued before it reached that level.

“I can’t imagine what a relief it must have been for my parents to hear voices and see the rescue boat bumping against the laundry door. The boat belonged to some neighbours and Mum and Dad were carried aboard and it wasn’t long before they were out to the other side where vehicles were waiting to take them to safety.

“The neighbour, Margaret, had also sent warm blankets and thermoses of tea and soup so, once on dry land, they soon began to feel better. Margaret called me to let me know that they were safe and I could stop pacing. I called my sister and other family members who, although they were worried, they had no idea how serious it could have been.”

Thank goodness for neighbours! But the most frightening part of the flood was still to come.

“Dad was worried about his sheep, so my husband and son set off for Tottenham by a back road as the water was too deep along the usual route we took. There, with the help of friends who had a small plane, they were able to see that the sheep were on higher ground. A friend in Tottenham offered them a house and they settled there for the foreseeable future.”

After the water receded the scene was heart-breaking and there was an enormous amount of cleaning up done by family and friends. They pulled up floor coverings, threw out destroyed furniture, washed walls and windows and cleaned out cupboards.

There was also a huge amount of work to be done by the citizens of Nyngan and everyone was involved. Friends and neighbours all pitched in to help and the whole process took many months of backbreaking work to get the town back to where it was before the flood.

“The people of Cobar were amazing,” said Ann. “They took our dirty washing back to Cobar and returned it to us in pristine condition. We were so grateful.”

“Both my parents were affected by the trauma of the flood and Dad became ill soon after and passed away, while Mum died just two years later.” 

Like the corona virus the flood arrived quickly, almost without warning, and caused havoc and heartbreak but, as today, people worked together and supported each other. They managed to recover and live normal lives again.