Peter Lindwall doesn’t think he did anything out of the ordinary the night a furious storm unleashed the worst flash flooding in Wollongong’s history.
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The photo that appeared on the front page of the Illawarra Mercury back in 1998 suggests otherwise.
Inspector Lindwall, knee deep in water with a child in his arms, shows the selfless bravery and community spirit that shone through the darkness.
Thousands of people saw their houses damaged or destroyed in the rising waters, while many more lost cherished possessions or found themselves stranded in freezing conditions. One man lost his life.
Floodwaters caused widespread damage from Kiama to Stanwell Park, but the hardest-hit suburbs were Figtree, Fairy Meadow, Bellambi, Gwynneville and Mt Pleasant.
The duty officer at Lake Illawarra that night, Inspector Lindwall headed to his neighbouring command when the police radio was flooded with emergency calls for help.
”We were lucky this end, we didn’t get affected like Wollongong did, so we went in there to give them a bit of a hand,” the retired top cop told the Mercury this week.
“I don’t remember all the details, but I remember we drove in there … people were stranded in a house when the waters came through.
“We couldn’t get them out of water ….so we finished up, with the aid of people from the public who got together and gave us a hand with a rope, there was a tow truck there, and we had a rope and we just kind of made a line down to the house.
“Each of us took a position on the line and we were able to get the family out and take them back up to drier ground on the road.”
The cop with 37 years service described it as a night of “mayhem” where everyone helped “wherever and however they could”.
“Besides myself and the police, a lot of people came in to help. Without them we couldn’t have done what we did,” he said.
“Them stepping in and putting themselves on the line (holding the rope) was what allowed us to be able to get this family out.”
Wollongong recorded 316mm of rain in less than 24 hours. The deluge cause millions of dollars in damage to properties.
Trouble started in North Wollongong.
“The strangest thing to see was a little tiny boat plodding along Montague St,” recalls Inspector John Klepczarek who helped coordinate the emergency response.
“It was just one of those most bizarre sights. The SES office was in Montague St and it started floooding, cars bobbing up and down in the compound so we had to relocate to higher ground, the police region office in Market St,” he said.
“Next I remember all those people driving along the F6 towards Figtree with about a meter of water. Cars were turning around, a whole lot were abandoned in water. This was something else. Calls were coming thick and fast from everywhere.”
The Illawarra District Management Committee was bunkered down for at least a week.
“We dealt with the actual flood itself but then the recovery was an even bigger exercise. Rotten food in fridges, people having to pull carpets, garbage was building up left, right and centre.
“The recovery was just as hard as the incident itself.”
Inspector Klepczarek said the storm event put Wollongong on the international map, with police taking calls from BBC London and American media outlets. The spotlight was on how the city handled the chaos.
“It was one of those times when emergency services worked so well together,” he said. “Nobody cared about which organisation they were from, they just jumped in with the army of community members who were bringing ropes, offering boats, life jackets.
“Today, everyone will remember where they were that night, how it affected them and how the mayhem brought everyone together.”