A mother desperately tried to reach her blind daughter across a raging torrent that engulfed their house in Lochinvar yesterday.
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Kay Hipwell could only shout – and watch helplessly – as her daughter Stacy stood outside the front door while the water rushed past their Hunter Close home.
“I just prayed that Stacy would not try to cross that water or she would have been swept away,” Mrs Hipwell said.
“The water was roaring past us with such violence that I knew Stacy could not hear me.
“I tried to shout to her, but I knew she would not be able to see me let alone hear my shouts.
“I rang the emergency number and the SES, then my prayers were answered.
“I saw Stacy waving a big stick so she could be noticed, but she was staying where she was.
“A wall of water had washed from the nearby creek and engulfed our house in just 12 minutes.”
While Mrs Hipwell watched anxiously, the water surged into her home, scooping up her car outside and spinning it around.
Then the vehicle was flung to one side and slammed against the house.
Meanwhile, waves surged into the house, snatching up furniture and throwing items around inside.
“It was a nightmare,” Mrs Hipwell said.
“Then two men I think were from the SES arrived.
“They had a rope and they crossed the water to save my daughter.”
Mrs Hipwell said her spirits rose as she watched the rescue.
“I had really feared the worst, then I saw Stacy would be safe,” she said.
“I am so very grateful to the SES for what they did.”
Mrs Hipwell said she had recently furnished and completed a granny flat at the rear of her house, where her daughter was living, but that had been extensively damaged.
The force of the water washed great banks of mud through the house and destroyed a new cooking machine she had bought for $2000 and caused significant damage to the house and contents.
“It is heartbreaking for us, because I was beginning to live with some independence in the granny flat - and now this has been destroyed,” Stacy said.
“But I am alive, and for this I am very thankful.”