Ten years after watching a man drown in a car in his street during the August 1998 storms, Bellambi resident David Brennen worries it could reoccur.
Just 30m from where John Thompson died, debris blocking Bellambi Creek and the slim drainage has locals nervous.
Mr Brennen, who helped to rescue a taxi driver that fateful night, said Brompton Rd still flooded.
"Every time it rains the water sweeps down here like a tsunami, carrying logs and everything else.
"It's not unusual for the water to rise to the bridge handrail and when it does I come out with my torch to try and warn people in cars to turn back," he said.
"Council comes and cleans it every now and then - not often enough - but you can see the overgrown weeds are all still there."
The Mercury yesterday toured the areas worst hit in 1998 and found many residents still feared waterways would not cope if a similar storm came today.
There was plenty of evidence of flood mitigation work that has cost Wollongong City Council almost $7 million since 1998, but also cases where waterways appeared susceptible.
Despite the council's work, creeks in some of the worst-hit areas from 1998 are filled with overgrown grass, weeds, trees, garbage and other obstacles.
The council says it has done an enormous amount of work on flood mitigation, with more to be done.
Council teams are working to clear 60 sites across Wollongong. Complaints of blocked waterways are always attended to straight away, it says.
Brompton Rd neighbours Valerie Hunter and Lena Carr, who live in units next to Bellambi Creek, say more work is needed.
Mrs Carr recently employed an engineer to prepare a report about dangers posed by the creek. Her unit was damaged in 1998.
"It does worry you," she said. "Because of what happened in 1998 with that fellow, you'd hope they'd bother to look after the creek more than they do."
In Thirroul, Peter O'Brien owned his Lachlan St home in 1998 but now has a mortgage, thanks to insurance company CGU's decision not to pay his claim.
The historic house had tens of thousands of dollars damage when Hewitts Creek blocked and the street flooded.
Yesterday, while a section of creek on the other side of the street had been cleared by the council, next to Mr O'Brien's home it was full of rubbish and weeds.
Mr O'Brien believes the council's work on mitigation around the city has not been matched in the northern suburbs.
"I think if the same thing happened again, it would have the same result," he said. "Whenever it rains junk gets washed down and you see things out of people's backyards, it gets caught in the crofton weed, and we hold our breath.
"This city has massive waterways and I think we have to take responsibility for that and do more."
In his report on the 1998 storms, University of Wollongong scientist Gerald Nanson said the damage was partly caused because stormwater drains and creeks became blocked.
He found Wollongong was flood prone because water from the escarpment increased dramatically in volume as it passed along waterways through suburbs to the ocean.
Wollongong City Council has completed flood plain risk management plans for four of eight major catchments in the city since 1998.
Work on Fairy and Cabbage Tree creeks catchment, Mullet and Brooks creeks catchment and Collins Creek catchment is in progress but the Northern Catchments are waiting.
Senior flood plain management engineer Pas Silveri said the council had also implemented other strategies including stricter development laws and the construction of new stormwater infrastructure.
Work could be hampered by buildings or fences over waterways on private property, or littered creeks.
"We are dealing with an environment that's been built up going back to the early 1900s," he said.
"If we were able to go back and do all the things we'd do now ... things would be totally different."
See Thursday's Mercury for the 16-page anniversary liftout of the August 1998 floods.
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