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It
all started on Saturday 31st January. It was a cold and very windy
day.
I left Bill to look after Chris and Alison and I went up to the
town to meet my Mum and Dad, and buy a few bits for the weekend.
My Dad wanted to take Alison home with them. How I wish I had let
her go, but no-one could tell how things would turn out.
We got on the bus and had a hard job trying to walk home. The wind
seemed to have got stronger.
After tea the children went to bed. Alison and Chris were in our
bedroom in a single bed sleeping top to tail. We had done this at
Christmas so we would not miss all the fun on Christmas morning
and had not got around to putting them back in the other room.
The
evening was very noisy outside, things kept hitting the roof of
the prefab. I remember Bill putting two potatoes under the fire
to bake for our supper, but at around 9.00 pm I said I was going
to bed. I had had a very busy day and this pregnancy was getting
me down. Only another month to go, thank goodness!
We had been in bed some time when there was a knock at the door.
I sent Bill to answer. He came back and told me to get dressed and
get the children dressed, as the water was coming in. It was high
tide in ten minutes. The water was in the prefab.
As I put my feet to the floor they were in water. The lights were
still on at that time. Bill said we should go out to the beach huts
and break one open and stay in there until morning, and come back
and clean up next day.
But try as hard as we could the front door would not open; he should
have left it open when the police came. The water had come up a
bit more and the pressure both inside and out kept it shut. There
was a big bang, a blinding flash and the lights went out.
Now we had to think of another way out, so we went to the window,
but the water was coming up very fast. It was nearly up to the window
sill.
Everything was floating - the table, chairs and sideboard. The dog
was standing on the armchair, bobbing about like a cork. Bill said
he would get out of the window and climb onto the roof and then
I was to pass the children out to him, one at a time.
The next thing we saw was the dog, Sally. She was swimming away,
but she kept looking back. The children started to cry out: "Sally,
come back!"
As we stood we watched big garden sheds, cattle and logs from the
river all go by.
As Bill went out of the window there was a big crash, and the water
came up higher. I was holding the two children and I got up on the
window sill. The water was now up to my chest and still coming up
fast.
I got Chris by the back of the collar and had to push him under
the water, out through the window. Bill grabbed him. He hit my hand
to say he had him and that he was ready for Alison. I tried to do
the same with her, but she was older and had seen what I had done
to Chris, and she would not go. I did not have much more time to
argue and I was getting worried that I would not get her out in
time.
The water kept me up and as long as I held on to the window frame
I could lift my leg up and smack the top window open, breaking the
glass out. All this seemed to take a long time, but I know it only
took seconds. I managed to slide her out to her Dad.
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