A small army of residents spontaneously rushed to the aid of Carmen's Restaurant after it was flooded in Tuesday night's storm.
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A thunderstorm dropped a "river" of water on Kingswood, causing an estimated $150,000 of damage to the Italian eatery.
But owner Carmen O'Sullivan said it would've been even worse if locals hadn't volunteered to help out of the blue.
About 20 Kingswood people rushed to her aid. They weren't even asked to assist, she said, they just saw what was happening and showed up.
Ms O'Sullivan said the small army spent about four hours helping sandbag and then clean out the building.
"They were fantastic," she said.
"That was the most beautiful gift of everything. To have people do that, that was amazing.
"We would have never had this clean [without their help]. [Immediate clean-up] would have been an all-nighter. With mud, you can't let it sit, so we had to get it out of the restaurant [that night]."
She said the business had been inundated with water which reached ankle-height.
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Ms O'Sullivan said about 20 centimeters of water had got in some parts of the business, leaking through walls and lapping at the front door.
"It was a river," she said.
"We got those pots, got garbage bags and made a sandbag to stop it from coming in. The doors wouldn't hold the water. We were underwater - it was that much water it was leaking through the walls, it was that much."
Carpet cleaning contractors were on scene busily airing out waterlogged flooring as the Leader visited on Wednesday morning.
Mrs O'Sullivan estimated the cost to her business in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The restaurant won't open before Saturday, January 2.
About four properties in the Kingswood area sustained water damage after localised flooding caused by the thunderstorm.
SES volunteers responded to about 35 calls to help throughout the Tamworth region, including in the small community.
The Bureau of Meteorology station at Tamworth airport measured about 18.8mm of rain to 9am Wednesday. A Kingswood home measured 75mm.
They built the restaurant four years ago, and it has never flooded before.
Andrew Messenger
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
