How a rookie journalist covered a devastating flood in his hometown, Fitzroy Crossing, with a mobile phone and a ladder

In late 2022, I found myself driving into the town where I was raised.

I was going home for a holiday, to see family and recharge for the year ahead.

It was a regular humid wet season day, a storm was blowing in the distance and the river was flowing fast; it was nothing unusual for this time of year and nobody anticipated what the coming weeks would entail.