|
Night of the Storm that Flooded
Brisans |
The staff moved quickly to take as
much as possible upstairs to the spare parts department as the water was
rising fast. As the rain fell and the storm water couldn't
get away the whole district become waterlogged. The staff watched on,
out the front doors as logs (the kind used around gardens) floated past
the front door as the water picked up pace and started to resemble a
rapid. Unfortunately while all this was going on out the front, the
water was filling the back lane and soon the water at the front started to
meet the water coming in from the rear. All that could be done now was
escape to the spare parts area and watch on.
Meanwhile there were a couple of staff cars going underwater. By
9:30pm they decided they'd shut the doors and wade out through the street
and organise a ride on the other side of the thigh deep water at the
"Gullyline" lights.
Out into the street they could see that all the businesses around
them were also suffering the water invasion.
The morning after (Saturday) the gloves were off. The water had
subsided and there was just the mess to clean up, so all the bikes were
taken outside and parked all over the footpath so the floors could be
cleaned. After mopping the floors with a trusty team of volunteers,
all the bikes were given a wash, dried and brought back in to the now semi
dry showroom. In the midst of what has taken place throughout
Newcastle, Hunter Valley and the Central Coast the mere 150mm of water
that came through the store, although upsetting seemed insignificant
compared to what many had to endure over this harrowing time in history.
|
 |
The water starts to rise, and
there was traffic traveling along Lambton Road. The centre lane
being wet but not flooded while the outside lane started to carry quite a
bit of water. The ramp and tyre you can see here was to try and ease
the effect of the "wake" that was being created by those in 4WDs
cruising through the deeper water at speed. |
 |
Don and Greg look on at the
rising water after they'd cleaned up the first lot of water that had come
into the store earlier that day. |
 |
Within half an hour from the
above photo the water was now lapping the tiles and the traffic was
slowing and now only running along the turning lane. |
 |
A view back into the store showing what we'd already cleaned up, but as yet, not moved all the
clothing and accessories upstairs. |
 |
A few moments later, the water
is now lapping in the front door and we find out it's creeping in the back
door. |
 |
An hour later everything is
taken up stairs and there is now 75mm of water covering the floor from
front to back of the store. |
 |
The murky water covers the
entire floor now and it starts to settle. They've done all they
can, so its time to shut down all the power and swim home.
|
 |
A view of the workshop. |
|
Above is a series of photos joined together to show what it looked like
from Brisan's front door
|
|
|
|
The photos below are a
few scenes around the street that show the devastation that was caused. |
 |
Stranded cars that would be seen
later strune around the street as the fury of the water treated them like
toy cars. |
 |
More of the same. |
 |
Westfield Shopping Centre's
carpark at Kotara. |
 |
The sign states "City
Centre Newcastle". |
 |
7pm Friday night and a shot of
the havoc on the streets. |
