What a shame. We've had some pretty crazy weather on the East Coast over the last few years, either floods or fires.
We did a trip from South Australia to Queensland to see a dying relative in late 2022. We were dodging and being chased by flood waters the entire way there and back, sometimes only making it by a few hours before the roads behind us were flooded. Stressful at the time, but I look back on it as a good experience now.
Woah that sounds like a very stressful trip! I remember pulled in to Coffs Harbour and went to a surf cafe for food they were closing and said storms coming in about 20-30 mins. And boy did it come 😂. Same as you though looking back it was a cool experience and a cool story to tell.
It builds character, that's what they say anyway 😁