NSW floods: Locals say road where mum Stephanie King and children died was not closed
Updated
Residents of the northern New South Wales community of Tumbulgum say a woman and two children who died when their car plunged into the Tweed River were not driving on a closed road.
The bodies of 43-year-old Stephanie King and two of her three children were found in a car in the flooded Tweed River yesterday morning.
Police said the road was closed due to mud and debris, but Jeremy and Katrina Schaefer, friends of Ms King, are adamant it was open.
"It wasn't closed, there were no barriers up whatsoever, Tweed Shire Council Facebook page didn't list it as one of the closed roads," Mr Schaefer said.
The tight-knit, flood-ravaged community is still trying to come to terms with the loss of Ms King, seven-year-old Jacob and Ella Jane, 11.
"We've lost friends ... we can't talk about it, we can't talk about that yet," Ms Schaefer said.
One child, Chloe, managed to escape the car when it plunged into the floodwaters.
The head chef at Kingscliff Bowls Club, Anthony Axelby, worked with Ms King's husband Matthew Kabealo for many years.
"Matt works pretty much two, three jobs, whatever he can get, to get the money for the family and keep them going. So it makes it hard," he said.
"He was very upset, we didn't speak for long.
"I could tell we were both sort of losing it a little bit. I don't know what he's going to do. He's devastated. He probably still hasn't come to terms with it yet."
'Everyone is devastated'
Mr Axelby said Ms King was well-loved in the community and got on well with everybody.
"She was great with the kids. She loved the kids, that was their life pretty much," he said.
"And everyone is devastated. How do you work around it? You don't know how to take it and how to deal with it."
The general manager of Kingscliff Beach Bowls Club, Phillip Kelly, said staff there are shattered by the news.
He believes the official mention of the road closure has been unnecessary.
"It's just a tragic accident, a very tragic accident, that has ruined a family's life," he said.
"So I don't think that's even an issue."
Mr Kelly says locals are banding together over the tragedy, and the wider devastation and damage caused by the floods.
"A lot of people don't understand but when they go out and see what's happened, they're there to grab a broom or shovel and get in and help," he said.
"What they see on TV is one thing, but actually seeing it live and being amongst it is completely different."
For Ms Schaefer, who lost both friends and part of her home, community support has been essential.
"We've had people dropping off sandwiches and food and water bottles and sponges and total strangers coming to help with brooms," she said.
"And a lot of rubberneckers coming to take photos, they're a bit annoying, they get a handful of mud now and then."
There have been three other flood-related deaths over the past week in New South Wales and Queensland, but police say they are yet to confirm these latest fatalities are directly caused by the floods.
New South Wales police are preparing a coronial report into how Ms King and her children died.
Topics: floods, disasters-and-accidents, police, tumbulgum-2490
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