KENDALL's River Street residents were forced to flee from their homes as the river surged into "raging rapids" at the height of this week's flood emergency.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The conditions became so dangerous that residents abandoned their houses; sheds and water tanks were dragged away; and one couple was forced to flee their second storey balcony by boat.
Michelle and Glenn Kingston said they were considering retreating to the roof as the water rose on their two storey house, but were luckily rescued by a passing boat.
"We decided to stay and it was pretty scary. The way that it came in, it was like a wall of water," Mrs Kingston said.
"It came in from the backyard and the river hit us from across the side. I've been here for 30 years and never seen that before, there was no warning.
"It was torrential, like being in the ocean. It looked like raging rapids and by the time we wanted to get out it was too late.
"We don't usually play around with that sort of thing but everyone along the street got caught. We only realised later when we could see flashing torches in the other houses."
Neighbour Shellie Cafe said her 16-year-old Levi Berry had driven a dinghy around to rescue residents after the first night of flooding.
"We just had to wait it out and it was pretty scary. Today (March 24) is a bit of an emotional day," Miss Cafe said.
"I have a disabled daughter in a wheelchair, Tarryn. Levi just wanted to get his sister out and he offered to go rescue the neighbours as well.
"My partner, Paul carried Tarryn down the stairs over his shoulder and waded through the water to the boat.
"The flooding was horrendous, we've never seen anything like that in 38 years."
Miss Cafe said there is extensive damage to backyard sheds and neighbouring fences which were pummeled by water.
Chris Brown has begun the clean up after returning to find flood waters had ripped away a staircase and saturated the house.
"We had our mother pass away last Thursday (March 18) and this is actually her house. She had been here for nearly 60 years and we are dealing with that too," Ms Brown said.
"It was total devastation after the flood. Cupboards, beds pushed over with mud and silt throughout. We have had lots of family help to clean up, which is good.
"We have lost lots of photographs."
River Street country cafe Miss Nellie's Cafe, owned by Jenelle Nosworthy, also sustained serious structural damage.
What else is making news?
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
Bookmark our website
Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
You can support us with a subscription
Follow us on Twitter: @portmacnews
Follow us on Instagram: @portmacnews
Follow us on Google News