A week since devastating floods hit Lismore and surrounding areas of NSW’s Northern Rivers, locals and volunteers are cleaning up. But they’re tired, and some are growing frustrated.
Piles of rubbish line the streets, while locals on the ground say many isolated community members are still without power and phone reception.
Tom Cornish’s business was affected by flooding in the town of Murwillumbah. Destined to be a brewery, it has been cleaned up and transformed into a volunteer hub.
“People are coming through here with food, there’s actually a first aid person here patching people up who have been cut in the mud,” he said.
“We’ve got free food, free mattresses, free water, dog food, cat food, baby products… blankets. You just come in and get it to everybody who’s been displaced.”
Then there are the volunteers, Mr Cornish says, many who have come from the Gold Coast.
“All the locals are just wrecked. This is day seven, of trying to clean up everything. You can still see rubbish piles everywhere down the streets that need to be fixed,” he said.
“We’re getting people what they need - thanks to all the volunteers. We really, really appreciate everything you’re doing for the community.”
But there’s a long road ahead. Mr Cornish said survey crews are visiting individual homes, assessing what they need and whether they’re habitable.
He is raising funds to hire excavators, bobcats, generators and gurneys, while long-term donations will go towards everything from replacing washing machines, to providing mechanics, electricians, plumbers and mental health support.
“We need doctors and medics out there. We need tetanus shots. We need first aid kits. We need counsellors, we need carpenters, we need electricians, plumbers, roofers,” he said.
“There are high spirits in the air. But honestly, we just need to help these people, as much as we can. They just need every bit of support they can get."
From Byron Bay, Jess Scott Hayes has also spent the last week visiting towns and regions to help with clean-up efforts.
“Just seeing the tragedy and devastation, that people have lost absolutely everything in their home. It's kind of unfathomable at the moment,” she said.
Last Tuesday night, she visited the town of Goonellabah, just outside Lismore, where an evacuation centre had been set up in a sports and aquatics centre.
“I don't think we were prepared for the tragedy that we'd walked into, " she said.
"There were people just crying. They've lost everything. There were men, women, children - young children - babies, cats and dogs on leashes and birds in cages.
“The main hall there was just filled with beds for people to sleep in.”
Ms Hayes said there has been no services in a lot of the affected towns, while people had to use cash for supplies that were dwindling. Food and water, she said, were “hard to come by”.
“For the last couple of days, we've been going out with generators and gurneys to try to make somewhat of a normality out of their houses. But a lot of them have been deemed unlivable.”
Speaking in Lismore on Monday, Premier Dominic Perrottet said around 3,500 flood-affected homes have so far been assessed. Around 2,500 of them are not habitable.
“So that work needs to occur. We've got to get people up from all parts of our state, and it'll be a call on,” he said.
“Once we get this clean-up done, which is underway, it's going to be electricians and plumbers. We need the labour and we need the materials to get Lismore and surrounding areas back on track as quickly as possible.”
He said what he has seen in recent days has been “absolutely devastating”.
“I don't think the pictures can do justice to the momentous impact that this catastrophe has had in the Northern Rivers. We've never seen anything like it,” he said.
A flood-affected home in the city of Lismore, northern NSW. Source: Supplied / Cassandra Scott-Finn
‘The feeling is turning to anger’
For Steve Krieg, recently elected mayor of Lismore, the priority right now is on the clean-up. He said the feeling on the ground is turning towards anger.
“It’s a week today. And I guess the feeling on the ground is slowly turning to anger," he said.
"I put it down to mourning the loss of a loved one, really, which is what it is. So you go through the shock, and the sadness, and now we're sort of moving into that anger stage.
“People want things done. And hopefully they can understand that there is so much to do that we are trying to get to everyone, but it's not going to happen straight away."
Elly Bird, a councillor on Lismore City Council, is coordinating the community recovery effort in Lismore. She says a “very serious” housing crisis is unfolding.
“Even before this issue, we had a housing crisis in the Northern Rivers. Now we have thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes. And we urgently need to find temporary accommodation solutions for all of those people,” she said.
Ms Bird described Lismore as a “heavily traumatised and impacted community”.
“While it was only a week, it feels like a year. So people need support, they need it urgently, " she said.
"I know that national and state governments are mobilising to support us. But as always happens in these situations, there is a bit of a lag until that support starts to reach the community.”
Calls for more support
Ms Hayes said she has seen “really minimal government action”.
“I think that’s why everyone is getting really frustrated and angry at the moment. The State Emergency Service (SES) are amazing. But they can only do so much within their guidelines,” she said.
“People are wondering where the funding and resources are. Our beautiful community is doing so much to help, but we can only do so much with the training and resources that we have.”
Ms Hayes started a petition calling for a state of emergency to be declared in the region, “where resources and funding can be accessed and personnel can be here on the ground and helping”.
According to the NSW State Emergency Management Plan, the premier can declare a ‘state of emergency’ for up to 30 days over parts or the whole state “when significant and widespread danger to life and/or property exists”.
The premier’s office has been contacted for comment.
At the time of writing, the petition has attracted over 33,000 signatures.
“A lot of us have put our lives on hold for the last week to help rebuild the lives of others, " Ms Hayes said.
"And at some point, we're going to have to go back to some sort of normality for us, and it's sad, because I don't know who else who is going to help these poor people."
Debris is seen outside an antiques and oldwares store in Lismore. Source: Supplied / Cassandra Scott-Finn
Operation Flood Assist commander, Major General David Thomae, said on Monday that 2,000 personnel are “on task supporting in NSW and Queensland”.
“Today, we have 637 personnel on task in northern NSW and more than 1,358 on task supporting southeast Queensland. Included in that 637 are 119 who are airborne at the moment.”
He said supporting isolated communities in northern NSW remains the ADF’s priority.
"I think we have done all we can with the conditions we have been faced with," he told reporters in Sydney.
"I'm very sorry for all of those people who have felt they haven't been supported. I empathise completely with their plight, the scale of devastation has been extraordinary.
"We have been pushing into (inaccessible communities) as much as we can since the start of the flood event and we continue to do so."
Australian Defence Force Personel assist with the clean up after the floods in the Central Business District of Lismore, NSW. Source: AAP / JASON O’BRIEN/AAPIMAGE
"I'm very sorry ... but we're doing everything that we can," he said on Monday.
"Some of those areas will look back at this and say it could have been done better but ... we're doing absolutely everything we can to provide care and support for those who need it to get those essential supplies in.”
The premier has announced job protection for flood emergency volunteers, to protect people from being sacked or demoted as they help with the clean-up.
He put the employment protection order in place on Monday and said it would remain in effect for 14 days.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that flood-ravaged communities in northern NSW and Queensland will soon receive a further round of Commonwealth support.
He said work was underway on an additional support package for flood victims, on top of previous financial assistance through the Disaster Recovery Payment.
The payment is a one-off, non-means tested payment of $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child, and is available to those in affected local government areas who have suffered a significant loss, including a severely damaged or destroyed home.
In the past week, more than 163,000 claims have been made to the government, with more than $193.5 million spent in disaster recovery payments.
Ms Hayes said some locals have been unable to access the payment due to issues with their internet connections.
Mr Cornish said the payment “isn’t going to go anywhere”.
“What do you do with that? These people are displaced, some of them are single mothers with kids, and you’ve got elderly people as well," he said.
"Just paying the rent or paying a mortgage for two weeks, and it’s all gone."
With AAP, Massilia Aili
