Beyond the Deluge
Leith Moonen · 75 min
When the worst flood in 70 years swallowed his heritage schoolhouse home, Leith Moonen discovered that surviving a natural disaster means battling not just floodwaters, but two years of invisible trauma, contamination, separation, and the silence of emergency services that never came.
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On July 6th, 2022, the worst flood in 70 years hit Walworth, a small area near Broke in the Hunter Valley. Leith Moonen and his wife Karina lived in the old schoolhouse there, a heritage building they had called home for twenty years. Leith knew the Longbottom Creek well. He had watched it flood many times, learned to read its patterns, and thought he understood what to expect. That morning, the water rose faster than he had ever seen it. Within hours, it swallowed his house, his sheds, his tools, his musical instruments, and nearly everything else.
What came next was two years of invisible trauma. The floodwater carried raw sewage that contaminated everything inside the house. When Leith and Karina discovered the e.coli results two weeks later, they had already been living in the contaminated space, and had to throw out most of what they owned. Emergency services never arrived. The help that actually reached them came from water delivery drivers who showed up without being asked, from neighbours, and from a single coworker who sat beside Leith without offering advice. Karina was moved to a boarded-up farmhouse fifteen kilometres away. Leith camped on the roadside, worked a full job, and spent every spare hour trying to salvage tools and equipment that sat in contaminated floodwater for nearly a month. The sounds and smells of that night still wake him, sometimes years later. But two years on, Leith is still here. He has learned which things he can save and which he cannot. The sentimental items, like his father's drum kit, are what get him through.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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