Abermain resident Michelle Beauchamp faced a serious case of deja vu when she watched on in horror as her house became engulfed with water on Tuesday.
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It was eight years ago that Mrs. Beauchamp’s William Street house was flooded in the June long weekend storms, which took her two years to recover from and get back into her house.
She rented a room in a hotel for six weeks, and then lived in a rental home in Weston for another six before living in a mobile home in her driveway for further 16 months.
Mrs. Beauchamp said it was 12.15pm on Tuesday when she noticed the water rising in a similar fashion to that fateful day in 2007.
It wasn’t 10 minutes later before Mrs. Beauchamp and her husband Russell, who was recovering from shoulder surgery, started to pass things up to her 12-year-old son Mitchell to store on the second floor of their house.
At 1.26pm water started to gush under the doors of the house, and the family was forced to simply watch as the house they were renovating became flooded with water.
“We just waited and watched it,” she said.
“You just stand there and you feel totally, totally helpless.”
“You have to watch your life be engulfed by water.”
Mrs. Beauchamp has had a rough few months, losing her 27-year-old son to diabetes just eight weeks ago.
“It’s just not what we need,” she said.
The family stayed upstairs for the remainder of the night, and took shifts listening to the rain, waiting for it to come up again.
Mrs. Beauchamp said after the 2007 storms she called on council to clear Swamp Creek to allow a better flow of water in times of heavy rain.
However she said this has not been done since, and believes that clearing out the creek would have prevented this from happening.
“It’s just cruel and Mother Nature is a beast, but when she’s impeded it’s so much worse.”
Mrs. Beauchamp said she does not want to be out of her home for another two years like last time.
“Two years out of your life is a long time,” she said.
“You’re frustrated and heartbroken day after day after day.
“I want to stay here and I want to push them [council].”
For now, Mrs. Beauchamp said the family will just have to clean up what they can and play the waiting game.
“Our biggest challenge now is going to be getting it all back together and hope the rain holds off for the rest of the week.”
Mrs. Beauchamp would like to give a huge thank you to Bill and Virginia of Bill Irvine Electrical for calling off their other job to assist her family in the repair.