So apparently we brought the weather with us… Just a few days after we got back to Yamba it started to bucket down with rain. The news said that Brisbane and the Gold Coast (where we had just driven through) was getting hit hard and likely to get flash floods. They weren’t wrong and then it started moving towards us. For several days we had non-stop bad weather which caused floods for the the north New South Wales coast. Luckily for us Yamba didn’t flood at all but we got cut off from the mainland as the roads out of Yamba were underwater.
Aussie house in Flood
In between the storms we took a few rides out in the hostel van to look at the water levels and the damage so far. It was quite impressive. We couldn’t drive for more than 10 minutes before we had to stop due to the water. Lots of houses and garden were starting to flood and there were a couple of cars that were sticking out of water at least a few feet deep. On our way back the emergency services blocked off the road.
As the rain carried on coming, the storms picked up and rivers started to rise. The beaches got covered in foam and even a few dead farm animals got washed ashore. The winds started tearing up the landscape. The pub that I worked in over Chrissy got put on alert as it was at risk of falling down the cliff into the sea, that didn’t stop the locals on a Friday night though.
Luckily the levee walls near us didn’t break (but it was very close).
A stormy beach walk
Yamba was getting supplies helicoptered in as the shops were starting to sell out but we didn’t really notice the shortage too much. Everyone in Yamba was fairly relaxed about the situation but by the end of it some of the backpackers were itching to get out. The day the roads opened, the hostel nearly emptied!
Things are starting to get back to normal now but the weather is still very unpredictable. We’ve taken a tour round the area and a lot of the beaches are slightly different shapes with new rocks now uncovered. All around the area are snapped telegraph poles and uprooted trees. We’re just grateful that we hadn’t started camping when all this hit.
