NSW floods: Meet the heroes of Murwillumbah, a tiny town with a big heart
Updated
Murwillumbah did not stand a chance.
Its location in the Tweed River valley, just 13 kilometres south of the Queensland border, put the tiny town at the centre of the flood emergency that has gripped Australia's east coast.
But amid the carnage, incredible tales of survival have emerged of the town's 3,000 residents fighting for their lives.
The water came from everywhere on Thursday night. It was a wall, surging from all angles, bursting from mains and sweeping under houses — which is where it found the Byrne family.
In a terrifying moment, Janet and Darryl Byrne watched as their daughter Erin was almost sucked away by the surging currents.
"The water was that fast it nearly dragged my daughter out from the house — my son had to grab hold of her arm," Janet Byrne said.
"Then we had to put a cord around her and drag her back. You could stand but the force coming straight through nearly dragged her out.
"The force of it was just pulling her, she was nearly falling over. It would have just sucked her right out."
Nick Byrne, 21, had to think quickly to give his sister a lifeline, and described the situation as the scariest of his life.
"I just grabbed her. I was holding on to a pole as well so I had one arm holding a pole and one arm underneath both arms, kind of by the chest," he said.
"I was just trying to pull her back. The adrenaline in your body makes you do wonderful things."
'We're lucky to be alive'
Across town, another story of survival was unfolding.
By 11:00pm on Thursday, the Rendall household was breached, and when the water became waist deep the family knew the game was up.
It became clear there would be just one route to safety, the family boat, which was tied up at a nearby railway station.
"I decided to jump in the water and swim across and fortunately a surfboard was floating down — I haven't been on a surfboard for about 50 years," Darrel Rendall said.
"I paddled over to my boat and cleared all the debris away from it.
"I swam back with the boat because I didn't have enough strength to get into it."
Mr Rendall's wife, daughter, and stepson had to climb into the boat out a window of their house.
"We're lucky we're alive, we got out," his daughter, Sherrie Evans, said.
"My mum is half blind, she has a broken back — we're lucky we got her out the window.
"We had to drag her bed, because it was floating, so we dragged her bed to get her out the window."
The family has lost almost all their possessions, but managed to save their two dogs and the cat.
For Darrel Rendall, it was a case of fight or flight.
"If I had to do it now, I couldn't do it," he said.
"It was just the adrenaline — saving the family is all you think of."
Topics: floods, disasters-and-accidents, emergency-incidents, nsw, murwillumbah-2484
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