The Molong Bowling Club has been a central part of life in the small New South Wales town for years.
The club’s bowling green is covered in a thick layers of mud, while the stench of rotting carpet fills the air in the clubrooms.
The flood waters swept through Molong on Monday morning, destroying much of its main street and leaving residents and business owners reeling.
Treasurer at the bowling club, Yvonne Clyde, takes a deep breath when asked how she feels seeing the community hub decimated.
“I’m just very drained, very drained and devastated.”
“The water had come up to knee height and just got into every space and crevice. It feels like every time we make some progress with the clean up, we find more mud, more water.”
Clyde is standing in the middle of main function room, stripped of its carpet and sense of life. Fridges stand ruined near the bar, muddied glasses clutter the countertop as workers hunch over it, exhausted.
Clyde said no part of the club was untouched by the surging waters, from the ATM to the doors, the honour board, the vaults and seating. Even the small office from where the club was run.
“Everything has been ruined,” she said.
“I think we’d need a year to recover fully, beyond just the cosmetic clean up.”
“I’m hoping we can rebuild, but we have already lost so much. We had so many bookings, so many parties and functions that are now lost. And it’s especially damaging because we were heading into Christmas.”
As the water recedes, Molong is at the beginning of its long and arduous clean up. While some of the mud and debris had been cleared by Tuesday afternoon, a sense of exhaustion hangs over the town.
Sharon Costa is volunteering at the hardware shop, at the end of Bank Street. Here, water reached as high as the awnings at the pub across the road.
She said that while some stock could be saved, many other businesses are completely ruined.
“Their windows have been shattered, doorways and ceilings have collapsed, machinery or anything electrical is ruined. The local news agency had to just throw everything out. It’s devastating.”
“I think some of these businesses won’t survive this.”
Costa described the scene as surreal. The sun was now shining bright, highlighting the muddy puddles left in potholed roads as the water drained away.
“It looks OK on the outside now, but there is weeks and weeks of cleaning up to do, behind and beside the buildings, in places you don’t notice. There’s still so much to do, behind the broken windows, down the alleyways of mud and rubbish.”
Empty shopfronts now dot Bank Street, with windows boarded up and businesses closed.
Restaurants have moved their seating on to the footpath, as volunteers hose mud out. When friends and neighbours see each other in the street, they stop and hug each other tightly.
But despite the damage and the destruction, residents said they were proud of the resilience and community spirit, pointing to how quickly most of the major debris and rubbish had been cleared.
Jenny, who is helping clean the local gym, said the water had “severely damaged” most parts of the town.
“We’ve seen flooding before, but not like this. It’s just gone through everything, all the equipment here is damaged, everything has been touched by mud.”
“But we’re so lucky to have this supportive community, they’ve just turned up. It’s amazing how quickly they cleaned everything up.
Harriet Pederick says she’s lost about $40,000 of stock from her health shop. But she has praise for the spirit of her home town.
“Everyone has come together for this massive clean up, it’s been amazing to see.”
“There are some true heroes in this town, everyone has been out here today and yesterday, some just here to have a cry with.”
“We’ll be back though, we won’t give up on our business and this town.”
