A MAN who used "hydraulic power" to help residents dig a channel between Tuggerah Lakes and the ocean at the height of flooding on Sunday has made an online appeal to the public because authorities "are all after me".
The Chittaway man said he was "in a fair bit of strife" after allegedly using an excavator to assist residents who used shovels to dig a channel to the ocean at The Entrance as the flooded lake system threatened thousands of properties on Sunday afternoon.
"I think I'm right in saying everyone of us locals are fed up with the state of our waterways and want something done NOW!!!!" the man said in an online post on Sunday night.
"Council won't do anything. The police, council rangers and DPI are all after me now for just trying to help our wonderful community."
The man said he had to evacuate his Chittaway home with his young family in the hours after the channel digging because of the rising lake, as the Central Coast copped some of the state's heaviest downpours between Friday and Sunday, forcing some people to leave their homes.
Suze Albert, her partner and daughter Kaidence, 8, were left standing on the side of the Central Coast Highway with a bag of clothes and nowhere to stay for the night after a State Emergency Services crew evacuated them from their flooded rented home at North Entrance on Monday morning.
The North Entrance peninsula between the ocean and Tuggerah Lakes, experienced serious flooding as water that flowed from the lake beneath Central Coast Highway into the peninsula area became trapped and flooded homes.
"At 5 this morning the water was in the backyard and by 6 it was in the house," said Ms Albert, who said her real estate agent had been "swamped with calls" from tenants forced to leave flooded homes around the lakes system.
Central Coast councillor Greg Best, who inspected the flood area, said subterranean gates meant to stop lake water from flowing into the North Entrance peninsula appeared to have failed.
A woman who has lived in her Coogee Avenue home for 60 years experienced flooding in her house for the first time as a king tide at 11am raised water to levels residents had not seen before.
Cr Best said the flooding occured on the day the Central Coast introduced tighter water restrictions because of the recent drought.
Long time Central Coast and North Entrance resident Darren Pearse watched as the rising water flowed strongly from the lake onto his property and threatened to enter a living area.
"We get water here because of the lake but this is worse than I think I've ever seen. We've had the drought so nobody's been worried about floods, but here we area. The world's definitely changing rapidly when you look at what we've been through these past few months," Mr Pearse said.
As residents waited for the king tide on Monday and moved what they could to higher ground, Coogee Avenue resident Glen Mueller-Craig stood on a wall surrounded by flood water and shouted a message to climate change deniers.
"Don't let anyone tell you climate change ain't real. Fires the other day, this place was covered in soot, and now, it's summer, and you've got this," he said, noting the east coast low-type weather system was more commonly seen in May or June.
On Monday some Central Coast residents launched a crowd funding campaign to raise money for a breakwall at The Entrance, after years of controversy about the Tuggerah Lakes system, the impact of development in low-lying areas and the use of dredges to reduce flooding.
By noon Monday Central Coast Council advised residents to avoid driving if possible because of road closures across 37 suburbs because of flooding, downed power lines and fallen trees, including some of the region's busiest roads.
Central Coast Highway at Tuggerah, the Pacific Highway at Charmhaven, the Scenic Highway at Terrigal, and major roads around Tuggerah Lakes and Brisbane Water remained closed on Monday because of floodwaters.
