A year on from devastating floods, Richmond residents are again facing disaster

Rob Buchanan and Sam Magnusson will wait out the evening on their property in the lowlands of Richmond. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

For Richmond local Rob Buchanan, the only winners from the downpour hitting his already drenched lowland property north-west of Sydney are “ducks and grass”.

During the devastating floods in 2021, the water was 4 metres high in surrounding paddocks, and Buchanan and his partner, Sam Magnusson, were taking their tinnie to the pub for dinner. This year, though, he fears it will be worse.