Beyond the Deluge
Melissa O'Toole · 47 min
When the worst flood in 70 years swallowed Broke Village, a long-time local and her family discovered that a coffee shop could become the unlikely lifeline holding a shattered community together.
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On July 6th, 2022, the worst flood in 70 years swept through Broke Village. Melissa O'Toole and her husband Paul, who had lived in the area for nearly 30 years, returned from a medical appointment in Newcastle to find Wallumbi Brook rising faster than they had ever seen it. When the SES ordered evacuation, the water was already knee-deep and moving with such force that Melissa had to grip the stair rail and trees just to walk a few metres. As the creek kept rising through the night, Paul desperately salvaged a timber suitcase packed with 28 years of their children's school paintings, report cards, and photos. The family made it to the roof. By morning, the water had subsided, but it had left devastation: the granny flat overturned, two massive packs of timber moved 50 metres by sheer force of water, belongings strewn across fences and paddocks for months.
What happened next revealed something about Melissa and her community. When the hall became a gathering place where Monkey Place Catering served food and neighbours came to sit, talk, and help each other through the shock, Melissa found herself going there almost daily. She helped serve meals, listened to people she had lived near for two decades but never really known. When her son's coffee shop, Magoonie's, opened in September, it inherited that same purpose. Now, nearly two years later, regulars still come to sit for hours. Melissa learned something about herself through the flood: she is a giver, someone who likes nurturing and helping others. The experience also deepened her pride in Broke itself. Yet reminders remain. The creek level is checked after every rain. Remnants still catch in fences. Some families are not yet back in their homes. When heavy rain came again recently, the raw feelings returned, and she found herself tearing up at the thought of it happening once more.
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