Surveillance footage of the Berry Bowling Club from Saturday, April 6 shows a play area halfway underwater and hedges flattened by tonnes of water which reached an estimated 1.2 metres, the very next day, the community rallied together.
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Berry Bowling Club manager Gary Wilbraham said he arrived after 9am when the flash flood had finished, but surveillance footage of the club indicated the worst of it happened between 7am and 8am, leaving a wake of destruction behind.
"It looked like it was hit by a tsunami, everything was pushed over," Mr Wilbraham said.
"We built a retaining wall in front of the bowling green, and five metres of it had collapsed completely, that was the first thing I saw when I drove in the driveway, I knew it was going to get worse as I got further in.
"As I got further, there was parts of our sunshade, even parts of our chairs from around the green and our concrete bin had washed out and landed on the green, I was just shocked really.
"We were just thinking, well oh my goodness can we even fix this? And the people of Berry fixed it alright, bringing trucks and excavators down."
Despite having insurance, the Berry Bowling Club wasn't insured for a flood event and water reached about 1.2 metres according to Mr Wilbraham, who said it was about 30 centimetres above the floor of the club.
"It was running past all the windows and it was just lucky the doors were locked, because otherwise we would've had all that inside," he said.
After a post was put on social media describing the damage, the next day, on Sunday at 9am 15 people were on site ready to volunteer with the clean up, heavily driven by long time club member Nathan Bezant.
"Then at 10am we had 30 people, and at 11am we had over 60 all from Berry, Kangaroo Valley, Shoalhaven Heads and Gerringong," Mr Wilbraham said.
"A lot of them had never been to Berry Bowling Club, they just saw it on Facebook and thought well we'll head down and give a hand.
"It inspires you to be a club manager."
"While it was a bad thing to happen, it was a really good community moment where everyone pulled together and shared the load."
One local purchased 100 sausages and cooked a barbecue for those helping, others brought trucks and professional excavators, volunteering their services.
Mr Wilbraham said from the help of the community over the weekend, about 90 per cent of the clean up work had been done and club management hoped to be back open by Wednesday, but are warning patrons to expect a lingering smell as the grounds continued to dry.
Holly McGuinness
Holly is a journalist for Australian Community Media, covering South Coast, NSW. As a born and bred Shoalhaven local, she's passionate about covering community concerns and amplifying local voices. To get in contact, email holly.mcguinness@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Holly is a journalist for Australian Community Media, covering South Coast, NSW. As a born and bred Shoalhaven local, she's passionate about covering community concerns and amplifying local voices. To get in contact, email holly.mcguinness@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
