Mogo business owners are counting the costs of another disaster after floodwaters ripped through the town on Friday morning.
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After being devastated by the Black Summer bushfires, the town has faced several floods over the past 24 months, the latest of which saw floodwaters close the Princes Highway for close to three hours.
Debra Gough of Juela Mogo said the water didn't get into her shop, but other shops on the western side of the highway would have been inundated.
"We're probably 50cm up above the road, and we got in there as early as we could," she said.
"The floodwaters had receded really quickly off the highway, but it was right up to our verandah at one point.
"The western side of the road is the issue, the creek is fully flooded and all the shops will need sandbagging because we haven't hit the high tide yet.
"There's still rain to come as well, so we're all still a bit worried."
Ms Gough said a steady brigade of cars and trucks driving through the floodwaters before the road was closed had contributed to the damage at some businesses.
"We had a look at our security cameras, and you can see the floodwater coming straight down from the north end of the town and covering the road within minutes of 5.30am," she said.
"Cars and trucks just kept driving through, it was madness - I believe a lot of the flooding was caused by the trucks pushing water into the shops.
"You can see the icebox over at the service station, it got knocked over by a wave of water from a truck driving through."
Ms Gough said the town was expecting another peak at high tide about 2pm, after which the community will rally from another disaster.
"We're still all really supportive of each other," she said.
"What is there to do (in a situation like this)? You just clean up and start again - you just keep on keeping on.
"Everyone gets together and does their bit to help, and people will get back on their feet.
"Unfortunately, that's just life here in Australia sometimes."
However, Ms Gough also believes the floods could be the final straw for some local businesses.
"There will be some people who won't survive all of this," she said.
"A lot of people still don't have insurance, or are finding it hard to get insurance. We were looking at changing our insurance a few weeks ago, and we had a lot of companies unwilling to insure us.
"I think there will be a few businesses who will just say 'I'm done'."
Mogo zoo animals kept safe from floods
Mogo Wildlife Park has confirmed all of its animals are happy, healthy, and safe despite the flooding.
Zookeeper Chad Staples of Featherdale Wildlife Parks told the Bay Post some of the low-lying paddocks had been affected, but all animals were safe on higher ground.
"Anyone familiar with the wildlife park would know the bottom part where our largest paddock enclosures are - they're holding a lot of water and the animals are standing on the high points," he said.
"We've been here for long enough, and all of these enclosures are built for this, so it's more of an annoyance than anything because everything becomes more difficult until the water goes away.
"The camping area is all underwater, and we won't know what the impact down there is until the flooding stops.
"It's come in very fast, and there's a lot of talk around town about how no-one has seen it like this before, but I think the damage from the fires has had an impact."
Mr Staples said the zoo's youngest animal, a baby giraffe recently named Matope, the Swahili word for mud, was safe and sound in a special paddock with his mum.
"The giraffe house is completely above the flood levels, and mum and calf are in their separate yard with full access to the bedrooms, so they're blissfully unaware," he said.
"We named him Matope because when he was born, his mum gave birth to him into a big pile of mud, so that was a nice soft landing.
"If he'd been born today we would have had to come up with a different name though."
Despite the heavy rains and floods, Mr Staples said some of the animals were enjoying the experience.
"Rain isn't scary or distressing to the animals," he said.
"The funny thing is that even though they're given shelters, a lot of them are still out in the rain because it's not a cold winter's day.
"In a lot of ways the water is healthy - it cleans their coats, it allows them to have a shower as such, and thankfully all of these enclosures are built with these conditions in mind.
"All the animals have the ability to get out of it if they want, and all we can do is watch the water.
"Everyone is safe, and the animals always come first. There are a bunch of keepers in wet weather gear and gumboots, but everything else is as normal.
"The water usually goes as quickly as it comes, so we'll be opening tomorrow at this point."
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