‘I need start all over again’: The clean-up in Maribyrnong begins

The floodwater came in with such force it lifted up the fridge and left it on its back. The fresh load of laundry hanging on the back porch was soiled, the veggie garden flooded.

Loung said her family had lost everything, including the food, clothes and her seven-month-old’s pram. Her children were staying with friends while they assessed the damage.

The clean-up begins.Credit:Scott McNaughton

“They don’t know what’s going on but they have no clothes, no food, nothing,” she said. “I need to buy everything and start all over again like I’ve just arrived to Australia.”

Down the street, Joe Fakhri had enlisted the help of his son and brother-in-law to clean up the family home. He estimated the flood had caused $600,000 worth of damage.

Water inundated their entertainment area on the ground floor, damaging an industrial-grade kitchen, an indoor pool, memorabilia and his son Christian’s work tools. Three of the family’s cars were submerged.

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Fakhri and his family gathered upstairs, offering shelter to neighbours as the water surged on Friday. He said the SES had rescued a handful of people from his carport roof.

“The windows have all warped because of the pressure of the water being so high. All the kitchen, an industrial kitchen, that’s all in the bin,” he said.

“That fridge down there, it was floating down here.”

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