George Volikas, 85, and his wife Dimitria, 80, returned to their Oakville home in northwest Sydney over the weekend to find that they had lost everything.
The couple had lived with their daughter Irene Connelley and her husband Frank for 35 years, occupying the bottom floor of their house near the Hawkesbury River.
Mrs Connelley was helping her parents clean up their home on Sunday when she was interviewed by The Australian. She said they weren’t prepared for last week’s flood crisis, which saw waters peaking in the area at a record 13.74 metres on March 9.
“This is their livelihood – it’s literally everything – nothing of theirs has survived – no heirloom, nothing,” Mrs Connelley said in the interview.
“[My dad] is devastated – he can’t believe this has happened to him after everything we’ve been through.”
The Volikas’ are currently staying at Westmead for one week in temporary accommodation, but after that they aren’t sure where they will live.
Elsewhere, Wilberforce butcher, Dean Diasinos, also told The Daily Telegraph how his shop was completely flooded last week after being renovated post-floods last year.
He said he was still cut off from his wife and children on the other side of the Hawkesbury River.
This devastation comes as NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet, promised a review into the State Emergency Service’s response to the flood disaster on the NSW north coast on Sunday.
READ MORE: ‘I’ve read it for 56 years’: Greek migrants share what The Greek Herald means to them.
Source: The Australian.
