We were lucky to live on a slope in Leycester St and had enough warning after seeing the backyard fill with water at 5am on Monday the 28th to get the children and pets out before it got too deep in the front yard.
We lost everything, just like most of us here, but we were very lucky we still had our cars and were able to drive to high ground. But that’s a different story
I just wanted to post this one good news story about what happened during the clean up. My neighbour is in her 80’s and lived in her home for 62 years. Had her marriage, children, became a widow, had her whole life in that house and never once, not even during the floods in the 70’s, has the water come into her front yard before, so like most of us, she wasn’t prepared and has lost everything.
During the clean out of her home someone had accidentally thrown out her 60 year old wedding dress she had made herself, wrapped in an old sheet no one had realised her wedding dress, which her sons wife also wore at their wedding, was inside.
We saw the sign on the pile and decided when the clean up crew arrived we would help.
The sign read:
Hi,
To the clean up crew thank you so much.Somewhere under this pile – near the bottom is my mums wedding dress wrapped up in an old sheet that was accidentally thrown out by us in the clean up. if possible can you please have a look and call 04** *** *** if found.
It is of great sentimental value particularly after she lost everything.
Have a great day and keep smiling
Love you all
When we saw they were in our street we called the number on the sign and her son came to help look for it too.
Looking at the massive pile and knowing it was at the bottom of it somewhere wasn’t filling us with much hope
“It will be a miracle if we find it” said her son, “she can’t remember what colour the sheet was”
As the crew came closer we let them know what we were looking for and how important it was we looked for it and they were so amazing. Carefully moving a mattress as gentle as they could with those machines and stopping and pointing if he saw any bed linen.
We would scramble over and pull apart every sheet, doona, blanket.. she had a lot of bed linen. It was beginning to feel like a lost cause when my partner spotted a piece of lace poking out of a muddy pale blue flannelette sheet.
“I think I’ve found it!”“I don’t believe it!”
Shouted her son and broke down in tears of joy and relief, we all did, there wasn’t a dry eye even amongst the clean up crew, who are bloody legends!
The dress was in surprisingly good condition, just a but muddy at the bottom but I’m sure that can be fixed.
Was great to have that moment.
Lu Dean