Sisters Aimee Woods, Kristen Apsey and Eliza Woods put on brave smiles as they try to process the damage caused by the flood at Kristen’s Dance Studio.
By Tuesday the floodwaters had started receding enough for people to return to their homes and businesses to assess the damage caused.
The state of the dance floors at Kristen’s Dance Studio in Rankin Street came as a huge shock to owner Kristen Aspey.
“The water came knee deep through the whole building and ruined all our sprung flooring in all three dance studios,” said Kristen. The wooden floors are all wobbly and will have to be ripped up.
“We have some furniture damaged too, but the flooring is the biggest worry.” Kristen did not want to start thinking about the cost of the damage on Tuesday as they tried to clean out the big mess. “The costs will be insurmountable.” She said replacing the sprung flooring would probably cost over $100,000.
“We were confident the plastic and sandbags would keep the water out, as it had worked in previous floods over the past three years, but this time it was different. It looks like the water was the same depth inside as it was outside.”
The end of the year is also the busiest time for her studio preparing for the annual concert. She did not see them returning to the studio this year, and she’d had to find an alternative space.
Kristen and her two sisters Aimee and Eliza Woods found some solace in the support they had received from the community. “We had about 20 people who came to help today. We are so appreciative of our Forbes community and our dance school supporters,” said Kristen.
Lachlan Laundry Services had to rip up all the carpets in the business.
The force of the water was too much for the fence at the Forbes Olympic Pool.
Shopping trolleys at Woolworths with flood debris.
Forbes Smash employees were hard at work on Tuesday to get the business clean and back to normal again.
There was a huge mess at Kristen’s Dance Studio to clean out with lots of damage to furniture as well.