2001 Kempsey flood

Macleay River: view from the railway bridge when not in flood

I brought back a bunch of my old photos from Kempsey when Gam and I stayed there over christmas. Today I scanned the photos I took at the beginning and end of the flooding of Kempsey by the Macleay river in early 2001. Stupidly, I passed up the opportunity to go out in a canoe or surf ski with my Dad and his friend to take more photos at the height of the flood. My Dad took a bunch of great photos of people boating around the main streets of Kempsey- I think he may even have one of my brother and some friends going through the KFC drive-through in a canoe.

The photos are in roughly chronological order:

The first four photos were taken on the day the Macleay burst its banks. I remember the water was incredibly strong- by the time it came up to my knees I came close several times to being knocked over.

Photos 5-9 were taken around the intersection of Sea St and March St, if I recall correctly. What I remember most is that when I entered the water, thousands of desperate spiders started running across the surface of the water toward me from all directions, climbing up my body and trying to shelter on my clothes. I'm not particularly afraid of spiders in general, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

Photos 10-14 were taken after the water subsided and the clean up began. I went into town to help some friends of Mum and Dad's clean up their craft store. I can't remember what kind of footwear I had on, or if I took it off to wade into the water to take more photos, but I do recall worrying about what I might tread on. Kempsey is the sort of place where you should avoid going barefoot in town. I don't know any of the people in any of the photos except for the final photo- that one is of my brother Richard and his friend Pip; I asked them to pose for me. The other shots are all candid.

I can't remember what kind of camera I used, and I'm too lazy to go pull it out of the wardrobe to check. Suffice it to say it was a good old fashioned camera with real film. Ooooh. The photos aren't of the greatest quality because not only am I a rank amateur I developed and printed them myself. Still, they paint a picture, and it was an exciting experience.