Bill Pearce was warned that his Seymour motel was likely to flood when the rain came bucketing down in Victoria last Thursday.
Mr Pearce had a few guests with nowhere else to stay, so he put them in the highest rooms and stayed awake during the night, waiting for the water to rise.
"It was a very harrowing experience," he said.
"It was quite frightening, to be honest."
Mr Pearce's parents built the motel after flooding in 1974 and made sure it exceeded that year's flood level by one brick.
The extra height wasn't enough to save the business from flooding this year.
"We are half a metre off the ground in the reception area," Mr Pearce said.
"I stayed there until water came up to the ankles."
Floodwater got into all the storerooms, 12 units, the kitchen, laundry, office and reception.
Now the water has receded, Mr Pearce is beginning the clean-up and counting his losses.
"Our insurance company just simply won't provide us with flood cover, so we are not insured for this event, everyone I have spoken to is in the same place," he said.
"I have probably lost at least a million dollars, I don't even know where to start with repairs, and then there is loss of income."
Footy club coordinates volunteers
Seymour residents turned to their football and netball club for help beginning the massive clean-up as the town's council figured out how to respond to the natural disaster.
Seymour Football Netball Club president Gerard O'Sullivan said hundreds of people had volunteered, with a ground crew clearing out destroyed furniture, plaster and flooring.
"People have only been able to get back into their businesses and homes yesterday," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"Some of the buildings the water has gone four or five feet high."
While he was pleased the state government had waived tip fees for flood waste and that the council had organised for contractors to start removing rubbish, Mr O'Sullivan said many residents were asking if more could have been done sooner — particularly as Seymour was close to a military base at Puckapunyal.
"To the best of my knowledge there is talk of getting support from the ADF," he said.
"It would be good to get support from the army members and have them deployed to us."
The ABC understands the Australian Defence Force hasn't received any official requests to help with the task.
Mitchell Shire Council Mayor Bill Chisholm told ABC Radio Melbourne coordinating a disaster response took time.
"There has been a lot of liaising between our shire and at state level particularly," he said.
"Our initial main concern was the relief centre.
"We've currently still got 35 people staying there ... and they really require a lot of support."
The ABC has contacted the defence department for comment.
