Survivors tell their stories in When the River Rose documentary streaming on ABC
When artist Kate Stroud was rescued from her Lismore home Devastating floods of 2022The water in his kitchen was neck deep. It was not emergency personnel who came to his aid, but a civilian from Ballina who arrived on his jet ski.
An SES employee visited Stroud on the night of the flood and said to Stroud: “You will be safe here, expect water at your door tomorrow at noon.” But when he started perusing social media and hearing from others in the area, a very different picture emerged. The flood would eventually reach a record height of 14.4 metres.
“Within a few hours, water started coming through our floorboards. By then it was too late to leave, so we didn’t have the right information to make an informed decision. We called SES, but we couldn’t get through. We called Triple Zero, and they told us to call SES.
“We later learned that [the SES] They were so overwhelmed and under-resourced that they actually physically closed the communication line. I could hear the defeat in the voice of the lady on the Triple Zero line. He couldn’t tell me what to do, which was pretty full. [It was] “It’s a real loss of innocence for me because I believed these systems were set up so that when the unthinkable happened, the ‘adults’ would come and help us.”
In the independent documentary, Stroud is the presenter who speaks to other flood survivors. When the river risesA powerful look at what happened during and after the flood. “This is a piece about the impact on humans when climate disasters occur,” says director Catherine Barker. “It’s about how it might affect us, not just at that moment, but for years to come.”
This is Barker’s first film. The 48-year-old man was living in Lismore during the flood but his home was unaffected. He had a long career in the entertainment industry; He had been working on lighting for big budget films and had later moved on to other roles in the Australian TV industry. But he had been working in community services for several years since then.
Barker said he always felt like there was a movie inside him, but there had to be something major that could pull it back.
“Honestly, I was so compelled to do it because of all the stories,” Barker says. “Everyone you talked to had so many stories of disappointment and devastation. I just wanted to make sure that future generations had something – a reference point – because there are still a lot of people who don’t believe it climate change and do not believe that this is why these things happen.
The independent film premiered at film festivals and sold-out screenings, and won awards internationally at the Planet Film Festival in Barcelona and the GRU International Film Awards in Brazil. However, its Australian TV premiere is now planned for the ABC. For both Stroud and Barker, this is a very proud moment and they hope it can affect larger systemic change.
“I believe that when you dig deep into people’s lived experiences, these events become human,” Stroud says. “It’s really easy for us to be a statistic on a spreadsheet or a line mark on a wall in the water. What’s overlooked is how deeply it affects people and fundamentally changes you for life.”
“If we can keep talking, I hope people never have to feel that feeling we all feel: waiting for boats that will never come. I hope it ruffles the feathers of people in positions of power to make the necessary changes.”
When the river rises It airs on Tuesday at 20.30 on ABC and ABC iview.
