In December 2011, we realised with horror that our new Brisbane home was going to be inundated with dirty muddy flood waters. We saw the river water levels rise and come inland and realised that either in a matter of hours or the very next day itself, our home would be flooded and there was very little we could do about it.

My husband Oliver and I had just moved from Sydney when he took over has regional manager for a Bank. Fortunately for me, Oliver was not someone who stood by and watched our hard-earned possessions dissolve in value in the muddy waters that not only threatened to enter our home but to drown us as well. He made a few phone calls and then called a number which I later knew to be that of the local office of Zoom Removals. Oliver turned around and said to me “Honey, there will be some people arrive shortly to move everything possible”. “To where?” I asked. “To some storage facilities he said.

Sure enough in about an hour's time two small and one medium sized truck made it through the flooded roads and sludge filled lanes. Each had a crew of two in them. They trooped to our home and after a few words with my husband and some formalities with forms and stuff, started moving stacks of empty carton boxes and bubble wraps into our home. Couple of hours later and despite the heavy rains, the first of the filled boxes were moved into the waiting trucks. As the trucks filled up, they left.

Oliver told me that each of the trucks was going to a different storage facility – wherever space was available. It seems all storage facilities were full up – probably because of the floods.

The next day we moved into a hotel and later that day, Oliver visited each of the storage facilities and found the boxes that originated from our home were stacked neatly and all labelled properly. More importantly, the storage facilities were all dry and did not suffer from the flood. Some insurance formalities had to be completed but this was done at the office of storage facilities itself.

A week later when the waters had receded and we had our house cleaned up, Oliver called up Zoom Removals to have the stuff moved back to our home. The trucks arrived next day and not only unloaded everything but helped us arrange everything in place.

Sure we had to pay for the time and service provided and we don't grudge that especially when Zoom Hornsby Removalists arrived promptly during our time of need and saved tens of thousands of dollars worth of personal items. The total amount we paid wasn't even a tenth of the total value of property saved. I was especially happy when our neighbours too availed of the services of Zoom Removals – as they say, one good turn deserves another. While other Manly Removalists made excuses about the rains and the flood and storage being full, Oliver says Zoom Removals did not even mention the rain or the flood even once. Ta !