Through the tears, the hundreds of people who were rescued from the recent flood share many similar stories of flood survival. Many of them have common themes of clinging to rooftops, of not being able to contact the SES or emergency services, and of being rescued by locals in boats.

The Lismore App spoke to Vicki Findlay, Steve Bolt and Jonathan to hear their stories of what happened in Lismore’s biggest flood in recorded history.

These are just some of the stories from North and South Lismore – and they highlight concerns for members of our community with disabilities, of the need for flood disaster plans, and of making wise decisions based on climate change.

Vicki describes the evacuation of North Lismore as 'like Dunkirk', referring to WW2, when self organised British civilians evacuated over 300,000 allied soldiers who were stranded on a beach in France. The navy wasn't able to save its own soldiers.

Read more stories: Kayak rescuer saves locals in Girards Hill

South Lismore - Jonathan

The night before the 2022 flood, Jonathan drove to Crown Street in South Lismore to help his friends put items up in their house - higher than the 2017 flood level.

He had no idea that by the next day, his car would be lost to floodwater and he would spend six hours on a rooftop with his friends, hoping they wouldn’t die in Lismore’s biggest flood in recorded history.

Trapped

On Sunday night, about 11pm, when Jonathan tried to drive away, he found that flash flooding had affected every road out of South Lismore and he couldn’t leave. So he went back and bunkered down for the night with his three other friends.

It was almost dawn when the household awoke and saw the flood water already lapping over the floorboards of the house. They went onto the verandah and watched the flood water rise at a rate so fast, they knew they would need to get onto the roof.

So, they piled up the verandah furniture and used it to climb up. From the roof, they could see their neighbours doing the same thing.

Except for the ‘old couple’ across the street.

Jonathan said he yelled at them to get onto their roof. But as the water rose higher and higher, the couple were physically unable to get up there.

Terrified

The water rose up to the terrified couple’s neck level - and they held onto the rafters of the verandah to try to stay above the water.

It wasn’t until locals in large powerboats arrived that the couple were eventually saved from drowning.

Jonathan said the ferocity of the floodwater current was so strong there was no way a kayak would have been able to navigate the water to rescue anyone.

As he surveyed the rooftops of the neighbours, Jonathan said families with screaming and terrified children were all waiting and hoping someone would come and help them.

Boats

More than one powerboat came by and Jonathan said the rescuer's priorities were rescuing the screaming children, making multiple trips to get people from their verandahs and rooftops.

Because there were people in greater need, Jonathan and his friends waited and watched, eventually having to move to the very pinnacle of the roof, as the water rose high up over the rooftop.

He said they were cold and exhausted and very glad to be alive.

He also was grateful to see the boats rescue two cats that had swum up into trees and were clinging on for life.

Jonathan’s story is one of many similar stories of survival.

North Lismore - Vicki Findlay and Steve Bolt

When Vicki Findlay and Steve Bolt bought their house in North Lismore, they knew it was in a flood zone.

They also knew that floodwater cut their road off from town at the seven-metre mark – well before the SES even sent out evacuation warnings.

While water had never actually come into the house in previous floods, Vicki said they did have a flood disaster plan. It involved a ladder that pulls down through the bathroom roof, to get them into the attic.

Disaster plan

Vicki said everyone who wants to live in the Lismore flood plain should have a disaster plan – and it should definitely include having a ladder available so you can get up onto your roof.

This week, they had to put their plan into action and are now alive, only after being rescued from their roof - by their friend Aiden Ricketts in his tinnie.

 “When the rain kept bucketing down on Sunday, we realized quickly how bad it was and lifted all our stuff as high as they could,” Vicki said.

“On the night of the flood, we went to bed at 12pm and water was nowhere near us.

“We set the alarm for 2am for the next flood warning and there was at least half a metre of water under us.”

Fast rate

The rate at which the water rose was so fast that Vicki knew it would come into the house 

“So we lifted more things, but it didn’t matter because the water came up to our ceiling,” she said.

When the water was about waist deep in the house, they climbed up the ladder into the attic, which had push-out windows onto a flat roof.

“Then, we were messaging on social media because we couldn’t get through to the SES all the lines were jammed on '000' as well.

“So we messaged our friend Aiden who has a tinnie.”

Aiden came to their rescue – and rescued 15 other people from North Lismore too.

(Follow the Lismore App tomorrow to hear Aiden’s story of rescues and his ideas for what we need to change in this flood-prone town.)

“Like Dunkirk”

Vicki described the evacuation of North Lismore as “like Dunkirk”.

She said Lismore local Helen Robinson is “the true hero” in the evacuation.

Helen Robinson

“Helen is the North Lismore flood coordinator, who realised about 2am that Lismore was going to be in really big trouble,” Vicki said

“She started coordinating at 2am to get boats and told us if we could get to Dunoon Road, there would be vehicles there to get us to Tullera Hall.

“We always thought we would go in that direction, away from the river, toward the hills.

“We were amazed when we got off that boat, beautiful people picked us up, took us to the hall then moved us to the school. Our dear friend collected us from there and took us to stay with them.

Concerns for people with disabilities

“What’s really difficult for us in all of this is that we have a son with a disability and we’ve had to split up our family.

“He had been sick and hadn’t left the house for nine months and the first time he left was to climb up onto a roof and onto a tinnie and into an evac centre.

“He has severe anxiety and is autistic with severe health issues.

“Now we are not sure how to house us all together to support him.

“I’m concerned for all the people across Lismore who are not getting looked after at the moment.

“Support workers are busy trying to save their own families and people like my son don’t get the support they need.

Climate Change

Vicki is no longer sure she wants to live in North Lismore and sees this latest flood event as a sure sign that global warming is going to change the game plan.

“We are getting older and are too old to borrow any money to fix up the house now. If it floods again, we will be on an aged pension and won’t have the capacity to keep fixing it up.”

“My concern is we can’t say it won’t happen again."

“We can’t keep re-housing people every time it happens and keep using resources and throwing them away."

”What does that say about us and what we have learned about climate change and respecting the environment."

“I’m also concerned about our young people and what we are leaving for them."

“It moves me to tears to see our amazing young people through this and it gives me real hope."

“They know what’s going on and we owe it to them, to be honest, and upfront about how we deal with it.”