Melanie and Martin were returning to their home in Separation Creek on Thursday when they encountered a roaring surge of water.

“We heard this incredible noise—cracking and roaring—and then watched helplessly as our bed from the second bedroom was swept away, fully made up with pillows and duvets, disappearing under the bridge and out to sea,” Melanie recounted.

The couple managed to evacuate, but now find themselves isolated, without electricity, and facing an extensive clean-up operation.

Jacobs is eagerly awaiting the arrival of council support to help them through this ordeal.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he remarked.

“We can recover from this, but we definitely need assistance. I need some help,” he added.

A few kilometres away at Wye River the clean up began first thing this morning after water bulldozed its way through the town. 

A large group of Country Fire Authority volunteers arrived to help.

One of the biggest tasks was rescuing two stranded cars that had been washed away.

Crews used a winch and a four-wheel-drive to salvage what was left of a Mazda.

The Volkswagen, which was trapped at sea on a rock, was also moved with some heavy machinery.

Many residents in the town of Wye River put their hands up to help with the massive clean-up and brought their families along.

“We’ve been cleaning up the bridge at the park and there’s been a lot of rubbish everywhere,” one child said.