The manager of the NSW pub that went viral after people were pictured inside sinking beers in literal knee-deep water has spoken about her experience of the devastating floods.
If you haven’t seen the picture floating around social media yet, here you go. As much as I just want to laugh at it, it’s just such a heartbreaking photo.
Natural disaster has been declared across parts of NSW after the ‘once in 100 years’ floods, which seems like such a cruel joke after everything that happened last year, including the bushfires that burnt the country.
The Telegraph Point Pub Club manager, Pam McArdle, appeared on Hit FM’s Gawndy and Maz on Monday morning to speak about the viral photo.
She said she’d never seen anything like the floods before and never wanted to see anything like it again.
“Everybody’s sticking by everybody, there’s so much support coming from other people – even people that have lost everything are jumping in and helping,” Pam said.
She shared how the entire club had filled with water within an hour.
“We had no chance, it’d come in so fast,” she said.
Of the viral photo, Pam explained that the people in the photo were evacuees she had brought in from across the road.
“We were bringing them in here [the club], and we kept them downstairs ’til we had everybody that we knew we had to get. And then we got everybody upstairs,” Pam explained.
She said it might take a month, maybe two, to get back on their feet. But it’s nothing the community can’t do, Pam continued.
“We had our bushfires last year, you know 12 months ago, and I learnt then what this community is about.
“This [club manager] has been a volunteer job – 14 months we’ve turned this club around, we’ve been making a success of us, and in a matter of an hour, we lost it.”
At the very least, Pam said she might be able to rescue some of her produce from the floods and donate them to animal shelters.
She also thanked all the SES workers, the police, ambulances, and firefighters for their support and hard work.
“We’ll be back bigger and better. We’re all fighters out here.”
