Joe Cymbalista is sitting ankle-deep in water in his daughter’s living room in Maribyrnong, surrounded by furniture.
There was a knock at the door from emergency services at 5am, but that did not give Cymbalista and his daughter Natalie enough time to move all their furniture and belongings as the waters in nearby Maribyrnong River rose rapidly. There was certainly no time to sandbag.
Joe Cymbalista in his daughter’s flooded house in Oakland Street, Maribyrnong.Credit:Chris Hopkins
“There was a mad scramble to try to save whatever we could,” Cymbalista said.
“Sending an SMS in the middle of the night to say the river could break doesn’t cut it. In 1974, they actually came through and they banged on doors.”
His daughter Natalie said she received a knock on the door of her Oakland Street home about 5am from State Emergency Service volunteers.
“At first I just broke down and cried,” she said. “Maybe if had more notice would have been able to move more stuff instead of racing against time.”
There are some books stacked on the ironing board, but there was not enough time to move the bookcase, the coffee table or the armchairs.
Water surged through the Anglers Tavern in Maribyrnong in the early hours of Friday and at least 60 surrounding homes were issued with evacuation orders as floodwaters threatened properties up to 200 metres from the river. Residents were advised to move to the relief centre at Randall Street.
Floodwaters are impacting properties on Burton Crescent, Chifley Drive and Rayleigh Road, as well as Oakland, Clyde, Duffy, Ensign, Leopold and Navigation streets.
While residents in the north of the state were busy preparing their homes with sandbags, in Maribyrnong many families went to sleep not expecting things to escalate.
Maribyrnong resident Carolyn Bohm lives on Oakland Street with her husband and two daughters, aged 5 and 9, and the first time she had an inkling her newly renovated home would be flooded was when she saw text messages from authorities at 6am.
Carolyn Bohm takes to a canoe on Oakland Street as neighbour Joshua watches on.Credit:Chris Hopkins
However, she said warnings didn’t suggest her house would be one of the affected properties.
By about 7am, Bohm said the water was lapping at her driveway.
“I started to pack up some clothes for me and the kids’ toothbrushes,” Bohm said. “We just tried to lift as much as we could off the ground.
“It’s gut-wrenching, horrible.”
Bohm said she was disappointed with the lack of warning.
“There was a lot of rain last night, but we thought everything was fine. We weren’t too concerned,” she said.
“We just had to make our own judgment call on what we should do very quickly.”
She was grateful to neighbours for all pitching in and helping each other. “It’s really good to see that they band together.”
SES rescuers are seen on a speed boat on the Maribyrnong River.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
By 8am, dozens of homes and cars on suburban streets between Raleigh Road and Hillside Crescent were submerged, with people kayaking items to safety or hauling belongings through floodwaters in gumboots.
Jane Clifton, a well-known actor who lives on Duffy Street, has been outside since 5.30am after spending the night in a panic putting precious items on the second floor of her home.
“I didn’t really sleep, I slept in my clothes because I thought this might happen at night,” Clifton said.
Clifton’s partner is still in the house, about 50 metres from the river, despite the first floor being flooded.
Jane Clifton,who lives on Duffy Street, watches floodwaters in Maribyrnong.Credit:Sophie Aubrey
The river, which draws from the Macedon Ranges, is flowing at an unbelievable speed.
At 10am, the river level was 3.46 metres, exceeding the major flood level of 2.9 metres. It was expected to peak around 3.98 metres by lunchtime on Friday.
“We’ve lived here since 1997, so we always knew this day would come,” Clifton said.
Another resident, Chloe Quinlivan, lives higher up but was shocked at how fast the river rose.
Residents ferried to higher ground by the SES on Friday morning.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
“There was [some water] on the street and [I] came back about 10 minutes later and it’s risen maybe two metres,” Quinlivan said.
“It’s just so scary and overwhelming. Cars are underwater.”
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said he wanted people out of Maribyrnong on Friday morning after some residents were evacuated on SES boats.
“Quite clearly we want people out of there,” he told radio station 3AW. “It’s a combination of rain coming down from the Macedon Ranges and it’s tidal, so it’s backed up in that location.”
Paul Waterson from Australian Venue Co which runs the Anglers Tavern right next to the river said they were able to save some of the furniture and equipment by moving it upstairs.
“The SES … came in and helped us with sandbagging yesterday but unfortunately the inundation is to such a level there was nothing more we could do.”
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