The Traumatic Impact and Toll a Flood Takes with Leith Moonen

Beyond the Deluge: Flood Resilience Stories from the Hunter Valley

Leith has a heart rending story about the events of the 6th of July 2022, when he and his wife, Carina, were caught up in the floods and lost everything.

Their village, Warkworth, was out of the way and not part of the hub of activity in the area, but they were heavily impacted on the day of the flood.

They ended up camping by the roadside in atrocious conditions until they were separated by the need for his wife to have a safe space to live. They felt abandoned by the emergency services but were eventually supported by their neighbours and community members.

"Unfortunately, the short-term goal of this situation is to raise awareness of many of these issues and find out why people like us were forgotten. "

"We had no communication to know what other people were doing apart from people stopping by. We saw no emergency services. We had nothing; we had no information besides this water is in our house now. The only assistance we received was from some community people and a couple of stubborn mates who drove out to help out. The area was shut, locked down with floods happening all around."

"If people want to help, the help has to be appropriate. Sometimes, it's not. Some people can hinder, and some people can help.

They are both suffering ongoing trauma. Leith has spent much of the past two years in often fruitless attempts to salvage their precious possessions flooded out in their three sea containers on the property. Carina tells her story in another Kintsugi Heroes podcast.

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We hope that you enjoyed this episode of Beyond the Deluge and Kintsugi Heroes.

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The Kintsugi Heroes team

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Theme Song: "Broken" by Colin Lillie

This episode of Kintsugi Heroes was made possible in partnership with Singleton Neighbourhood Center with grant funding from the Hunter New England and Centre Primary Health Network.