More than two months on from the flooding in Melbourne's west, Rae Waters is still dealing with the fallout.
The night before the flood hit, the 76-year-old looked out at the calm Maribyrnong River from her balcony in Avondale Heights.
The next morning, on October 14, her sister came rushing over from an adjacent apartment to warn the river was coming.
"I couldn't believe it — here was the river, right near us," Ms Waters says.
"As I was wading out all I could think of was 'don't fall over, don't fall over', because it was just mud — I couldn't see where I was going," she says.
"It was horrific."
Their home is one of hundreds that flooded in Melbourne's west.
Ms Waters and her husband Colin have been living month-to-month in hotels as builders rip out their floor, carpet and cupboards.
She said they did not have enough furniture to rent a house, and the amount of people impacted by the floods meant furniture was in short supply.
Their insurance only lets them book a month of accommodation at a time unless they can supply confirmation they will be out of their home for at least six months — confirmation no one has been able to give them.
"Our groceries are in a laundry basket, and we're living out of suitcases," Ms Waters said.
She said many people in their retirement village were in the same position.
"Most of the women, we've all had anxiety attacks," she said.
The village estimated some flooded residents could begin returning home in February, but the Waters could be waiting until May.
Another flood 'would kill me', resident says
Ms Waters believes the flooding was exacerbated by Flemington Racecourse's flood wall, which was criticised for protecting the racecourse but potentially diverting floodwater to surrounding homes.
"I feel it backed the water up and made it go sideways," she said.
Melbourne Water will open public submissions next month for its review into the flood, with a focus on the racecourse wall.
The Waters love their home and retirement community by the river, so they want to see the state government do something to prevent future flooding.
"There's been proposals to build weirs to manage the water near Lancefield," Mr Waters said.
"The problem is the politicians have knocked it back twice over the last 20 years."
The Liberal opposition proposed to build a retarding basin at Arundel in 2006, but it was knocked back by the Labor government.
Mr Waters believes this was a mistake.
"We need proper river management," he said.
The instability of being out of their home is rocking Ms Waters, and now she worries about future flooding.
"If we move back in and a year or so later it happened again, that would kill me," she says.
"You couldn't come back from that again."
In a statement, a Victorian government spokesperson said it was working with affected community members to ensure they had access to safe temporary accommodation.
The spokesperson also commented on the Arundel proposal.
"Studies into the Arundel Dam proposal found a number of environmental and cultural heritage issues with the proposal and that it would not provide a viable flood protection solution," they said.
Maribyrnong residents criticise flood warnings
Residents at a heated Maribyrnong community meeting last week said warning messages from emergency services for the Maribyrnong River came too late.
At the meeting, the State Emergency Service's chief operations officer Tim Wiebusch said the day before the flood, the river was only expected to get to 2.5 metres — which is below the major flood level.
He said at 2:25am the next morning, Melbourne Water issued an alert saying there was likely to be major flooding.
"This was the first time there's mention of a potential for major flooding in the Maribyrnong township," he said.
He said the SES issued a warning to residents in areas that could be impacted to evacuate immediately at 4am, before the river exceeded the major flood threshold at 6:30am.
Antoinette Bufalino, who lives in Maribyrnong, said she was "already walking through water" when she got a text advising her to evacuate.
She said the delays meant treasured photos and important documents were damaged.
This included the coronial inquest document into her sister's death by domestic violence, which she had been holding onto until she was ready to read it.
"I did save it in the end, but it's all hard," she said.
"I filled up this whole garage with each sheet to dry it out.
"I know it's probably gruesome, but I just needed to have it."
Insurance costs going up, Maribyrnong mayor says
Maribyrnong Mayor Sarah Carter said she had heard concerns from residents about the evacuation warnings, and they would be addressed in Melbourne Water's review.
She said the extent of the damage was clear from the 1.9 million kilograms of hard waste the council had collected in the past eight weeks — nearly double the average yearly amount.
The council estimated one in four homes affected by the floods were uninsured, Ms Carter said, and premiums were going up.
"I've had residents advise me that what was their annual insurance premium is now their monthly insurance premium," she said.
Insurance prices also worried Ms Bufalino, who is currently living in the second level of her house after the bottom story she had just renovated was covered in water.
She estimated it would take another year to fix.
"It starts to get to you," she said.
"To live through it — it's not pretty at all."
Ms Bufalino wants the Flemington Racecourse flood wall knocked down, and the basin built at Arundel.
"If that basin was there, we would have saved a few hundred houses," she said.
Also along the Maribyrnong River, the banks are lined with rubbish swept in by the flood.
The Essendon Canoe Club headed out on the weekend to do a clean-up from their boats.
"Our members went paddling on the river and just went, 'there's a lot of rubbish'," club secretary Mark Gribben said.
"They weren't happy with the amount of rubbish, so we decided we'd do a bit of a clean-up."
Couple worried their house is beyond repair
Giovanni and Philomena Bruzzaniti, who moved to Australia from Italy in the 1960s, are renting in Avondale Heights after their Maribyrnong home went underwater.
They were unsure if they would be able to move back home, because the base of the house was unstable.
"I work all my life to have a house," Mr Bruzzaniti said.
"We lose just about everything."
Mr Bruzzaniti said a dam should have been built after the 1974 flood of the Maribyrnong River, which he lived through.
He also wants a thorough investigation into the contribution of the Flemington Racecourse wall to the flooding.
Ms Bruzzaniti has been dealing with anxiety since the flood.
"I couldn't sleep for two months," she said.
She was also devastated to lose two rare pots she would bring out for the Christmas barbecue every year.
"This year, I have nothing," she said.
