Residents in Sandhurst St couldn't understand all the fuss yesterday when a tribe of media descended on their quiet cul-de-sac around lunchtime.They waited and watched for more than two hours to see if it was true that an evacuation from their homes was imminent amid fears a dam embankment on the old Bulli mine site could fail if forecast heavy rain arrived.They recalled the 1998 floods and were conscious of the potential for destruction on a similar scale.
GALLERY: Bulli residents evacuateJust after 2.30pm, emergency services swung into action and started evacuating 120 homes.Police and State Emergency Service personnel doorknocked homes in a number of Bulli streets on both sides of the Princes Hwy, mostly around Slacky Creek.Emergency warning sirens were activated and some residents received an evacuation text message on their phones.Evacuation and information centres were set up at Woonona-Bulli RSL Club and the Thirroul Library and Community Centre yesterday afternoon.The Salvation Army and Red Cross were prepared, with food and water supplies brought into the library on trolleys and volunteers queuing to help.Beacon St resident Megan Warburton was prepared to wait it out until her dad, an RTA employee, advised her what to do."If he does call we'll go to my sister's place at Bulli Tops," she said."I'm baking cakes for the Biggest Morning Tea we're supposed to be having at work tomorrow."I just don't want anything to happen because I'm making butterflies - I've got 28 cakes in the oven."Janet Prince made the decision to pack up her Hobart St home even before the police came knocking."My husband is at work in the mines, so I don't even know if he would know," she said."I heard on the radio and rushed home from work at Corrimal."Not willing to take chances, Ms Prince wanted to collect some of her valuables."But I am leaving my two big bull mastiffs behind and they might just have to swim for it. I will take the little shih-tzu, Roxy, with me," she said.Next door, Gary Collie was also packing his car after a neighbour received a text message from the SES."I'm just getting some paperwork together and packing up so I'm ready to go," he said."I won't go unless I have to, but my wife wants to leave straight away."As they packed, police starting knocking on Hobart St doors, telling residents that while it was not compulsory to leave, it was recommended.Others were given no choice about whether to stay or go. Margaret Robertson, whose Gwyther Ave home backs onto the dam, was told by the SES she had to leave."I would have rather stayed if I didn't have my two grandchildren staying with me today," she said.Mrs Robertson was among the first to register at an evacuation centre set up in the Excelsior Room at the library before going to stay with family at Thirroul."My daughter rang this morning and asked if I had heard, so I turned on the radio and TV and waited for advice," Mrs Robertson said."When the SES knocked, they said we had to go."While Mrs Robertson's granddaughter Erin, 11, remained calm, her younger brother Jared, 8, admitted he was a bit of a "panic merchant"."We have had a lot heavier rain than this in the past and I heard the dam is only 50 per cent full, so I don't know what to think," Mrs Robertson said.
