Heather Hurst says she would not recommend the wheelbarrow as a regular means of rescue, but in her case, it was effective.
“No, I wouldn’t advise it. The photo shows you,” she told the News.
As Shepparton’s flood waters rose around her Nicholls Ave flat on the morning of Sunday, October 16, Miss Hurst’s landlord and neighbour, Rob Gardam, knew he had to help her evacuate.
The home of Mr Gardam and his wife, Joy, is on the same block as Miss Hurst’s flat, and while confronted with their own need to evacuate, they stepped in to also help their tenant.
“My neighbours, my landlord and lady, he wheeled me out because the water was coming up and lapping up almost into the house, so we decided I couldn’t walk through the water, it was pretty deep, so we took the wheelbarrow and he wheeled me out with my packed suitcase and just a few things,” Miss Hurst said.
“They’re wonderful people. Very caring.”
Mrs Gardam said the need to evacuate became obvious on Sunday morning.
“My husband woke me on Sunday morning at a quarter to seven and said, ‘Joy, you’d better get up, we’ve got water coming up our driveway,’ and so by nine o’clock, we just had to get out,” she said.
Mrs Gardam said they had to use what means they had in the time available to help Miss Hurst, whom they consider a friend, as well as a tenant.
“A beautiful lady, part of our family, really, so we helped her as best we could and that was the only way we could: the wheelbarrow,” Mrs Gardam said.
“She didn’t have a lot of choice, but she thought it was quite wonderful — she was waving to everyone. It was a bit of humour in a bad situation.”
Unfortunately, the flood waters have gone through both homes, but neither the Gardams nor Miss Hurst will have any hesitation in returning when the properties are cleaned up.
“Not at all. We’ll recover,” Mrs Gardam said.
“We’ve got wonderful neighbours and they’re going through exactly the same as what we’re going through.
“Some of them have built a little bit higher than us, so it hasn’t gone through their home, but we’ll support each other and we’ll get through it and we’ll start again.”
Miss Hurst holds the same determination to stay in her home.
“Oh yes, after it’s fixed up, I’m coming back. I love living in Shepparton,” she said.
“You’ve just got to look on the bright side and we’ll get through it.”