The day the car floated away

The Illawarra Flame reports

Amid the many scenes of devastating flooding last month, one incident went viral.

When the downpour hit Stanwell Park on Thursday, February 9, its southern Stanwell Creek overflowed and washed along Beach Road, collecting debris, rubbish bins … and a vehicle.

Smartphone footage of a little blue car being washed along the road and into the ocean aired on national and overseas news bulletins.

That vehicle was an automatic Suzuki Swift and belonged to Sharon Van Damme of Lower Coast Road. Sharon is a driving instructor and runs Dalton Driving School. She was in Illawong when the flash storm occurred and a friend, Paul Blanksby of the local Men’s Shed, contacted her.

“He texted me and he said, ‘Sharon, I hope this isn’t your car, go check Stanwell Park Community Forum [a Facebook group]’. And so I did.

“And, to my horror, it was my car.

“I had some spare time – I was waiting to do another lesson – and I was just like, ‘Oh my God’. And then the rain hit there.”

Sharon said her yard sustained extensive damage in the storm, but her house was “okay”.

“My driveway got washed away. The car was in the driveway when it got washed away.

“So I lost my bins, I lost my driveway, I lost my letterbox. Everything, the whole front yard basically.”

Sharon said years of slippage – dirt, bush debris and sand – from the escarpment has clogged up pipes underneath a nearby causeway and banked up behind it, so the creek is prone to flooding.

“Our main problem is we’re near the causeway.

“I’ve lived there since 1977, so I’ve seen some floods in my time, but that [the February 9 storm] was just insane.”

Sharon’s Suzuki was washed into the ocean and ended up on a rock platform at the southern end of Stanwell Park Beach.

Wollongong City Council has removed the car.

“Removal was carried out in two phases –during the low tides in the morning and evening on Saturday, 11 February,” a spokesperson said.

“The car was dismantled and carted away in sections due to the challenge of reaching this part of the rock shelf. This also minimises damage to the rock shelf and cliff face.

“Ahead of the car’s removal, oil and fuel was syphoned from the vehicle, to minimise the risk that these liquids would spill in the sensitive marine environment.

“The cost of the car’s removal will be covered by insurance and not Wollongong City Council.”

The storm in numbers

300mm – The volume of rain dumped on NSW South Coast towns on the night of February 8, before the freak February 9 storm.

374mm – Rainfall at Greenwell Point from 9am February 8 to 7am February 9.

130mm – At Foxground.

114mm – At Kiama.

96mm – The volume of rain Bellambi recorded in one hour on February 9. More than 600 – Calls for assistance to the State Emergency Service.

31 – Flood rescues conducted by the SES across the Illawarra and Greater Sydney regions on February 9.

1 – Suzuki Swift washed away. In the millions – cost of the clean-up, said Wollongong City Council’s general manager, Greg Doyle. Read more on our website in ‘Mop-up into the millions’.

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