For Andrew Wilson there is no escaping the reality of how his Vietnam veteran father died in the Dungog floods in April.
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But for the Maitland resident, questions continue to mount about why his father, Brian Wilson, had no warning a wall of water was about to crash through his Brown Street unit.
As the community continues to count the cost of the disaster that claimed three lives, Mr Wilson says he is no closer to knowing what really happened on the morning his father died.
“The more questions we ask, the more I don’t really understand,” he said.
“It’s not a question of what happened, but why it was able to happen.”
It is understood Mr Wilson, 72, tried to leave his unit, but was trapped on his patio as the water rose.
Col “Spider” Webb, 79, died across the road and Robin MacDonald, 68, died in her Hooke Street home.
Mr Wilson said he was waiting for an inquest, or the outcome of the State Emergency Service investigation into the disaster, so he could explain to his four sons exactly what happened in the early hours of April 21.
An inquest will not bring back Mr Wilson’s father, or his sons’ grandfather, but the family hopes it will answer questions that have tortured them for the past few months.
“I’ve heard a lot of things and to be honest it’s been pretty hard to hear some of them,” he said.
“There is no escaping that there was absolutely no warning to the residents around Dad and that makes no sense at all to me.”
Mr Wilson, whose brother Michael is a long-term member of the Dungog SES, said there were just too many unanswered questions.
Michael was stranded by floodwater out of Dungog the day the disaster struck and only learnt of his father’s death days later when the water had receded.
“It’s been pretty hard on Michael all of this,” Mr Wilson said. “Dungog is a small town and everyone knows everyone else, there is no escaping any of it.
“There needs to be someone explain exactly how this was able to happen.
“All of these people [who died] were elderly and they really had no chance on their own.”
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said a date had not yet been set for the inquests.
An SES spokeswoman said its review of “operational response to the severe weather and flooding in Dungog” was ongoing.
“The review is examining information from all levels of the NSW SES as well as other agencies,” she said.
“The after-action review process acts as a continual improvement
mechanism for the NSW SES with respect to future planning and response activities.”
