The family in Sydney’s west who had to evacuate their family home due to damage caused by floods, said they only had ten minutes to gather essentials before the fire brigade took them to safety.
On Monday afternoon, a landslide caused by heavy rainfall destroyed the front of Rasleen Buksh and her family’s home in Emu Heights near the Blue Mountains.
“It’s scary. It [the front yard] was still falling as we were standing there,” she told News.com.au.
At around 9:30am, Buksh started to notice a problem with her home, when she observed that two boulders situated at the front of the house had rolled down a hill and taken trees down in the process.
“It was raining a lot, I didn’t think much of it,” Buksh said.
However, it wasn’t until Buksh and her eldest daughter returned from an afternoon shopping trip that she realised how immense the damage was.
At 2:45 the driveway was pretty much gone. She told her kids to stay in the car while she packed their belongings.
“My daughter called triple-0,” Buksh said.
“They told me you had 10 minutes to get what you need and get out.”
According to a council engineer, the family can return to their home safely if they wish. Although, Buksh is skeptical of that advice.
“As we were standing there chunks of land was falling out when the engineers said we were safe,” she said.
“I said ‘If it’s your family in question, would you go in?’”
The family are now staying with relatives, with eight people crammed into one home.
This comes after extreme rainfall and floods have ravaged Sydney over the last few days. Yesterday, Manly Dam began overflowing and residents situated in the low-lying spots were told to prepare for evacuation.
“[People should] ensure that they are ready to evacuate if we move from a warning to an evacuation order,” SES Commissioner Carlene York said as per the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The rain and thunderstorms have not finished yet.”
Stay safe out there, Sydney.
