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Speaker 1: This is gem Nation with Jonesy as the new Southwest

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Speaker 1: floods ravage communities in the central West, and the Lachland

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Speaker 1: River is likely to reach ten point eight meters this morning.

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Speaker 1: It's still going well. Last night we were watching ACA

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Speaker 1: and heard the story of Anthony Robinson, who's based in

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Speaker 1: your Ghara. Anthony's wife and children are lucky to be alive.

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Speaker 1: He tells an incredible story of survival. Anthony joins us. Now, hello, Anthony.

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Speaker 2: Guys here, you're going great.

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Speaker 3: I just find it extraordinary that I was watching a

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Speaker 3: really hit home, watching that security footage of view with

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Speaker 3: your dog heading towards your fall wall drive and then

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Speaker 3: next minute you're floating down the road.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty quick. The length of that I

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Speaker 2: drove would have been no more than one hundred meters.

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Speaker 2: And I looked to the left and I saw about

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Speaker 2: a three football of water coming straight at me and

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Speaker 2: hit the car and put it into a tree and

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Speaker 2: then put me up against a house.

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Speaker 3: And so was it like a wave, like a surf wave?

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Speaker 2: It certainly was. It was like a tsunami, just like

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Speaker 2: watching a movie when you see it in the movies.

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Speaker 1: And lucky for you when you came up against that house.

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Speaker 1: You're against a window.

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Speaker 2: Yes, the window to the house, and there was a

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Speaker 2: lady and her three kids inside the house, and they

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Speaker 2: helped me inside the house and then yeah, we're in

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Speaker 2: waste high water men, and then we managed to get

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Speaker 2: everybody up under the roof.

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Speaker 1: After that, well, that was that person's house. Meantime, where's

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Speaker 1: your family?

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Speaker 2: So my partner was on a different roof, She was

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Speaker 2: probably about three or four hundred meters away, on a

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Speaker 2: different roof, and my kids were with my partner's mum

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Speaker 2: and dad and they were probably another further five six

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Speaker 2: hundred meters away from that.

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Speaker 1: So you didn't know the safetyal where, You didn't know

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Speaker 1: how everyone else was going. So you and your dog

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Speaker 1: were inside that house with one of your neighbor's houses,

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Speaker 1: but you didn't know where your family was.

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Speaker 2: So at that time, Telstra had gone down, but Optus

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Speaker 2: was still running, and my partner and I have Optice,

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Speaker 2: so I was able to get in contact with her

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Speaker 2: on the roof of the house she was on, but

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Speaker 2: her parents are on Telstra. So the laugh that I

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Speaker 2: had heard was that they were waiste high in water

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Speaker 2: inside therefore out, so I didn't hear anything for I

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Speaker 2: think it was about four or five hours on the

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Speaker 2: state of the children and the grandparents.

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Speaker 1: So it makes me feel sick. How are you feeling today?

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Speaker 1: Now everyone's safe, but you've lost things, your community has gone.

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Speaker 1: How are you going?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the community is just overwhelmed and and shattered at

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Speaker 2: the moment. So the surrounded communities have been tremendous for

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Speaker 2: us so far.

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Speaker 3: And then what can we do to help you, Anthony?

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Speaker 3: You need anything?

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Speaker 2: So we've been we've been overwhelmed with support with with

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Speaker 2: like food and clothes and all that sort of stuff.

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Speaker 2: But the last I heard, we we might be run

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Speaker 2: and load with fuel at the moment. So if we

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Speaker 2: could get some fuel into town, that would be great.

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Speaker 3: How would that How would that actually even work because

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Speaker 3: contankers get in. Can imagine the roads are.

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Speaker 2: All so we we should be able to get trucks

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Speaker 2: in from Orange at the moment.

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Speaker 1: We get a big fuel drive going or something like that,

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Speaker 1: it feels the thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, leave it with us, Anthony, want some work on that.

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Speaker 3: Maybe we've got some you know, we've got some people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And also in terms of what your town has

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Speaker 1: gone through, I know there's also going to be mental

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Speaker 1: health challenges for all of you, So take care of you.

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Speaker 1: We wrap you in love, all of you, Anthony. We're

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Speaker 1: all seeing what you're going through and we're feeling for you.

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Speaker 2: No worries, Thanks good, thank you, Anthony,