CAMDEN man Mike Dawson put his building skills to good use as he monitored the rising flood water as it moved towards his Jacobs Drive home in Sussex Inlet.
Down with some mates to work at Sanctuary Point, he thought he would stay Monday night at his “fishing hut” as he describes it.
But as the weather closed in he became stuck in the village and spent two stressful days watching the water rise.
“I was figuring out how much it [the water] had to rise from the front steps up into the house,” he said.
“In the end I was at the front door with the tape measure watching the millimetres.”
With his home being in one of the lowest parts of the main road into the town, the inevitable happened and the rising floodwater entered the house.
He now boasts water views, with the home completely surrounded.
“We had about an inch go through the house,” he said.
“It was a stressful couple of days watching the water rise. You could just see it coming.
“I watched every millimetre. In the end it was the high tide on Wednesday that killed us.
“It just snuck through and slipped up between the floorboards and it was all over.”
There was worse news in his shed at the rear of the property, with waist deep water flowing through it.
“It’s a bit of a mess and we’ll have to wait for the water to go down before we can clean it. There is stuff floating everywhere,” he said.
“All my fishing gear and a boat are down there and the lawnmower is under water, so I don’t suppose that will be any good.
“You just try and move everything you can. I did as much as I could in the house, but you just can’t do everything.”
Originally published as Mike’s island home in Sussex Inlet by South Coast register.