Pair weathers storm in tent

With nowhere to go, Cory Bush and Rebecca Tucker were forced to stay at the showgrounds.

Crystal Spencer

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Flooding around the Tweed

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YOUNG battlers Corey Bush and Rebecca Tucker well and truly know that “when it rains it pours”.

Corey, 21, and Rebecca 18, had been searching in vain for a place to rent and earlier this year settled for temporary digs in a tent in the Murwillumbah showgrounds.

When most other campers were evacuated as floodwaters rose on Saturday night, the couple had little choice but to stay around and make the best of a soggy situation.

Yesterday they were trying to dry out belongings which were soaked, including their tent.

But as soon as a few moments of humid sunshine gave them hope, showers started again.

“On Saturday night the SES woke us up at a quarter past three and told us we had to evacuate,” Corey recalled.

“We just left the tent and got everything we could up here (near the main pavilion) to keep it dry,” he said.

“It came up real quick.”

In fact most of the showgrounds, which sit close to the Rous River, were under water.

As levels slowly receded yesterday, most of the main ring was still under water and the concrete roads winding around the grounds were covered by up to 30cm of water.

Faint mud marks on the walls of some buildings provided a reminder of the knee-high to waist-high water levels which peaked early Sunday morning.

Rebecca said the couple had been looking for a place to rent for the past three to four weeks.

But they were finding the search hard-going due to Tweed’s rental shortage, high prices being asked and the reluctance of landlords to accept a tenant with a dog.

“We’ve looked at Tweed as well,” she said.

“The units in town here were $250, $260 a week and we have a dog which makes it a bit hard.

“But we don’t want to part with him.”

Several other campers with tents also stayed put at the showground.

One had failed to shift some of his belongings despite State Emergency Service members saying they had asked him several times to move.

Corey and Rebecca managed to move their tents but two others yesterday were still surrounded by water.

“One guy went and got a motel room for the night,” Corey said.

On Saturday night several caravanners were also evacuated from the flooded area along with anEnglish tourist whose bogged bus had to be towed out by another caravanner.

Corey said the tourist had told him he had been searching the internet for “somewhere sunny” to complete his Australian holiday.

But the rapidly rising waters, he said, brought out the best in some people.

One caravan owner returned after he had moved his own van to help others struggling to get their belongings to dry land.