A co-owner of IOH - Injury and Occupational Health, Mr Hogg knew the business's Swan Street premises in Wollongong had flooded before so immediately sprang into action.

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"I saw the creek going up and I live in Bondi, so I drove down. By the time I got here it was already shin deep," Mr Hogg said.

Knowing that the business was at threat of flooding, Mr Hogg and the other co-owners had installed floodgates at the front of their store, however the metre-high barrier was not enough.

"The water was about up to the top of the flood gate, maybe an inch below, but on the inside the water was coming through the back door."

From the Swan Street frontage, the healthcare provider extends through an adjacent warehouse at the rear, which backs directly on to the Gurungaty Waterway.

"The floodgates have stopped three or four floods from entering the property but this one was the first one that's come through this door," Mr Hogg said.

Realising the task ahead, Mr Hogg called Wayne Cooke, owner of Extreme Carpet Cleaning, who drove down to the site to begin pumping water out of the premises just after midnight.

"[Co-owner] Linda [Hogg] has always done the right thing by me, and been there for me, so whenever they put out the call, I have to do it," said Mr Cooke.

After starting to pump the water out of the premises, with the water continuing to rise, Mr Cooke also found himself in distress.

"The water was coming up a little bit, but it was alright, and then in the next five minutes it was up to my knees," he said.

"I couldn't get out onto the road, because once I began to drive out the driveway, it had gotten another two foot deeper, up to my van's door."

After some quick communication with other locals, Mr Cooke was able to get out with his van, thanks to help from a couple of 4WD drivers who could tow the van out.

Since then, Mr Cooke has had two vacuums sucking out water for seven hours, with the business able to open in the morning and continue seeing some patients on a skeleton staff, with fans blowing in consultation rooms to dry out the carpet.

Next door at Impact Garage Doors, owner Jamie Adams had all of his staff on clean-up duties.

Water had inundated his business overnight, including the warehouse and showroom with the waterline still visible the next day at about a metre above ground level.

Mr Adams estimates that the cost of the damage to stock and the building could be between $40,000 to $50,000 and that it would take at least a week to be back up and running.

Despite the task ahead, Mr Adams said it's his team and the support from the community that has kept him going.

"We've had a lot of people already ring, builders, people who know we've gone under, just saying, 'Do you need a hand?' That's the good thing about Wollongong, isn't it? Everyone just goes, let's get this done."

Those with frontages onto Swan Street were not the only ones affected.

The Gurungaty Waterway wraps around the industrial centre leaving little opportunity for water to flow out.

Lorette Graham of Refrigeration and Air Supplies South Coast said her and her team were not sure where the water had come in from. It could have been the creek at the rear of the warehouse or out of a blocked drain in the parking lot in front.

Luckily, most of the business's stock was already raised on shelving or palettes, but Ms Graham said she expected the clean up to take weeks.

Having been at the premises for 30 years, the task of moving to another site seems insurmountable, despite the frequent flooding the area experiences, but Ms Graham said things had to be kept in perspective.

"It's a major event for us, but in terms of what's happening in other areas like Lismore, it's very minor," she said.

"I don't know if anything can be done, whether more drainage needs to be approved so that events like this don't occur on a regular basis. I don't know what the answer is."

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