Earlier this year the family of a young man named Josh Howard had lost everything to a devastating flood at Murwillumbah, Australia which he regarded as one of the best things that happened in his life.
In an emotional TikTok video, Howard shared how his family and their dog were saved through a small boat from the flood-raged area. He captioned it with "I have everything I need."
Faithwire reported the terrifying ordeal that the young family experienced. Howard and his wife had called emergency services for help multiple times yet for just a few hours, the water in their home continued to rise until there weren't enough resources to retrieve their things. A boat came to rescue the family eventually.
"I stood on my deck and passed over my nine-week-old baby and my puppy before my partner and I jumped into the boat," he said. "At that moment, all we had were the clothes on our backs and each other."
After the disaster, the young couple went back to their home to evaluate the damage. They found out that they lost everything including their cars and furniture. Weeks later, Howard claimed the whole experience changed his life. He recounted, "I used to be very materialistic."
"I wanted to have nice cars, and nice things but now it's just completely changed the way I live. Now I see it as what I have now is all that I need," he said.
According to 7News, the young family was staying currently with Howard's mother until they became stable and plan their next move. He said, "Don't get me wrong, we have really lost a lot, but now we are just trying to get back on our feet; but yeah, it's just completely changed my perspective on what I want in life. I don't need the best things and the best of everything anymore, I just want to live a happy minimal life."
Howard initiated a GoFundMe account to also extend help to his community in Murwillumbah which also faced great losses due to the devasting floods. "Some of our neighbors' houses were built up even higher after the 2017 floods, but it still wasn't enough," Howard said.
Meanwhile, the New South Wales government was under fire over its handling of the disaster, Acting Premier Paul Toole spoke with the new parliament members. "We always can do better. No two natural disasters are alike...will we have everything perfect? The answer is no. But can we learn from it? The answer is yes."
He added, "We want these communities to bounce back and rebuild better than they ever have before."
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke summarized the extent of the rescue and relief efforts. "The volume of water and the impact it's had is just unimaginable," she said.
According to her, the emergency agency got more than 25,000 calls for help and accomplished nearly 2,100 flood rescues since February 28. Nearly 4,700 emergency workers, police, and defense personnel were placed on the ground of flood regions. Clean-up efforts continued in the flood-affected regions with 12,000 truckloads of waste released at transfer locations.
