Wet had Purono Park man swimmin’ in the train
WHEN Tony Deighton swung his feet out of bed on Thursday, he got a massive shock – there was a foot of water running through his home.
The retired train driver lives in an old rail motor at Purono Park.
“When you wake up at 4am in the morning and you put your feet down into a foot of water, you think ‘ holy s--’,” Mr Deighton said.
“The water just kept coming up, I ended up with about 14 inches of water in my house. The animals were swimming in the train.”
Mr Deighton retired from his job last Friday after working as a train driver for 45 years.
Since finishing work, he said the rain did not stop until Thursday.
“The creek came up level with the shed ( last) Saturday,” he said.
“We thought we were pretty prepared but I wasn’t expecting anything like the night of Noah.”
Mr Deighton is spending this weekend cleaning his home, with many of his belongings left damaged and beyond repair. He said the water had come up so quickly that he did not have time to move the cars parked nearby before they went under water.
“I’ve owned this place for 30 years and it’s only happened twice,” he said.
Despite having to throw out chairs, the kitchen cupboards and furniture, Mr Deighton said he would not want to live anywhere else.
“It’s worth dealing with this, when I get to live among all the trees and wildlife,” he said.
The rail motor is only a temporary home.
Mr Deighton is building at the same spot, but the house will be a lot higher than where his train sits now.
“I’ve got to build the land up another five feet or so,” Mr Deighton said.
“Hopefully that will stop this happening again.”