IT WAS a scene of devastation on Tuesday morning as the Blackmore family of Stroud counted their losses after 300ml of rain overnight.
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More than half of their herd of 40 black Angus cattle had been washed down a raging Mill Creek - among them were 18 mothers in calf and eight calves just over six-months -old.
“I’ve never seen anything like it and we’ve been here for 20 years,” property owner Felicity Blackmore said.
“I don’t know where they are, if they’ve been washed away or whether they’ve drowned. I’d day say they would have drowned, the water was so fast.”
Mrs Blackmore said to make matters more confusing, a herd of cattle had washed up onto her Mill Creek Rd property from another property believed to be 6km upstream.
“They don’t belong to us, they’ve been washed down the river and were smart and got off somewhere," she said.
Having watched a weather report on television earlier that night with predictions for severe weather on ‘coastal areas’ Mrs Blackmore said the downpour and flooding as unprecedented for the area – being hundreds of kilometres inland.
“We would have moved them to higher ground," she said. “They’re like our babies, they were beautiful – our best animals have just gone.”
Mrs Blackmore said she hopes if her cattle have survived, that a property owner would take note of the Blackmore's ear tags and return them.