Anyone who has walked around the CBD would have seen the sign on the NightOwl door saying "RIP NightOwl Lismore: COVID stopped the NightOwl, Floods killed the day owl, Sorry to our customers, Goodbye to our town."

Carlos and Heather have owned NightOwl on Woodlark Street, just up from the Gollan, for 15 years.

In that time, they have experienced 15 minor floors (4.2m), 9 moderate floods (7.2m) and 2 major floods (9.7m) before the unparalleled 14.4m February 28 flood. Forget the March 30, 2022, flood, the critical damage was done.

This was after two years of COVID where lockdowns and restrictions saw them lose their nighttime trade as pubs and nightclubs had to close. Just before February 28, they were going to reopen until midnight as Lismore's nightlife started to kick back into gear.

Carlos told the Lismore App, that he and his daughter moved all their stock to the second level above the NightOwl shop on Sunday night February 27 (his daughter ran a dance studio on that level too) and then stayed the night as they did in 2017 so they could clean up and reopen. A process that would normally take about a week.

"We were watching the water rising. The water level comes to the landing normally and stops but this time it just kept rising," Carlos said.

"A warning came through that the flood level would be over 12 metres but we were still dry so lay down for a sleep. My daughter woke me up saying we had water on the floor. It wasn't long before the water was at our knees."

"We looked out of the window and couldn't see the Bank of Queensland sign across the road."

"A man came in his inflatable boat and rescued us off the awning of the building at 7am. We travelled down Keen Street, past the cinema to the church on Zadoc street. After a while, another boat with a hole in the side after hitting something earlier took us to the road near Trinity."

"I had a backpack that had some food and water and my laptop, that's all we could save. We lost everything."

The losses for Carlos and Heather were insurmountable after believing they had put their entire stock well above 12 metres to safety. Over $400,000 is the estimate with stock $85,000, walk-in freezer $45,000, walk-in coolroom $65,000 and the list goes on.

The bank said no to another loan as they still owed $300,000 on the existing loan.

When faced with the potential of another potential flood this year or next in a third La Nina year, Carlos and Heather made the heartbreaking decision to close up shop.

There are still leases involved with NightOwl to sort through plus the building has to be restored to the original condition when they took it over so the start of the next chapter is not immediate.

(The before and after flood photos of NightOwl)

In fact, to help with the cost of the building work, Carlos and Heather are having a sale to raise funds. The equipment and costs are at the end of this news story. If you or you know of anyone who can buy this equipment, please call Carlos on 0466 643 910.

Carlos and Heather's last day in NightOwl is this Monday, August 15, when Carlos said "We start the new beginning of life."

NightOwl was one of the first businesses to support the Lismore App in our early days (launching in November 2017 on Android only) and continued to do so each year. The Lismore App family sends our love and thanks you both for that support as well as wishing you all the best for your next chapter.

(Carlos and Heather in happier times at NightOwl)

Below is the NightOwl list of items for sale: