On Wednesday 12 October, Sophie Locke and her sister woke up to some life-threatening news.

They were told to evacuate their Seymour home in light of the floods that were sweeping through Victoria at the time. Their Dad was interstate when they received the text message.

When Locke first received the news, she thought her beloved home would escape unscathed.

“Our house is pretty high up so we thought we should be alright,” Locke recalls.

“Like if worse comes to worst, our neighbour has a tinnie, we’ll jump in with them!”

However, the situation escalated rapidly overnight, with key landmarks in Seymour suddenly underwater.

It meant that Locke ran into a literal roadblock on her way to Melbourne for Hawks training.

“We woke up the next morning and the park across the road where the river is, it was half-filled up, shopfronts were underwater,” Locke said.

“I think we had training on the Thursday and I was going to try and drive to training and Bec said to turn around."

With a trip to play GWS in Sydney looming that Sunday, Locke was unsure if she was going to make it to Melbourne, let alone interstate.

But thanks to her family and friends who vowed to get her to Sydney one way or another, Locke set off for Melbourne on Friday night in case things got even worse back home.

The plan was a successful one, as the classy forward boarded the plane to Sydney and laced up the boots to face the Giants.

Looking back on the close call, Locke said it was her community that got her, and many others, through what continues to be a difficult time for Seymour.

“One thing I love about being in a small town is the community,” she said.

“When the water started to clear out, my local football/ netball club (Seymour Lions) were in there, cleaning out houses.

“Some people had been waiting months for a tradie and there you go, tradies knocking on your door saying, ‘what can we do?’... ‘send us your address and we’ll come and help you clean up.'

“It was kind of emotional. It kind of makes you proud to be part of that community.

“It was an emotional time, kind of scary, but I think everyone’s starting to get on the better side of it now and things are trying to clear up. But it was crazy times for the town.”

To find out how you can donate and assist with Seymour’s flood recovery, click here.