Northern NSW flood victims accuse authorities of abandoning them amid clean-up
Tensions are running high from Mullumbimby to Woodburn and Ballina, as flood survivors call out authorities for “abandoning” them.
NSW
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Towns ruined by record flooding in northern NSW have been left living in “squalor”, with no access to services, food, petrol, phone reception or the internet.
Worn-down residents from Mullumbimby to Woodburn and Ballina have told The Saturday Telegraph they feel forgotten, firstly when the actual floodwaters hit due to a lack of warning, and now in the aftermath with supply lines and communications failing.
Emotions are at boiling point and there are fears people will start fighting over limited resources.
Communities in the Byron Shire say they are “feeling forgotten”, with water, power, and phone lines still down.
Sam Saulwick, co-owner of local business The Bread Social in Byron Bay, said locals hadn’t seen one person in uniform since the waters receded, and people were relying on each other to co-ordinate access to food and essentials.
“There’s frustration from people … the volunteer movement is awesome, however they want to see someone in uniform, and have questions answered about water and power and when things will be working again,” he said.
“Local trades and services are working their way from house to house to repair water and power where they can, and it’s taking so much longer because no one from an official or government level is overseeing it.”
Hundreds of families — most covered head to toe in mud — were hard at work in South Lismore on Friday, carting out destroyed belongings from homes and dumping them in massive piles along the kerbside.
Lemon myrtle farm worker Andrew Rose, who survived last Monday’s flood by punching through his Casino St home’s roof so he, his wife and three daughters could escape, lost everything when the floodwaters hit. He said even in 2022 the country had not come to terms with emergency communication.
“Fuel is a big thing because we’ve only got one servo in town now up in Goonellabah,” he said. “They thought it would be at the ’74 level … and then the next minute they’re saying it might reach our floorboards, but to go this high inside our house — it was unprecedented. It overflowed the (Rocky Creek) dam out there and just sent more water down our way.”
Mr Rose said he did not expect power to be restored for at least another four weeks, while phone reception had been “hit and miss”.
Mullumbimby’s Jacqui Lewis said people were living in “squalor”.
“It’s been horrific, squalor would be the best description … the living conditions are really dire, there has been massive sewage leaks in the streets,’ she said.
“They don’t have phone reception, they don’t have internet, they’re injured, so it’s just been incredibly grim. Nobody has been able to communicate.”
Evans Head’s Lyndall Murray, who has been helping flood survivors, said people in Coraki had no access to basic services and tensions were running high.
“They have been cut off from water, power, sewage and food supply for five days now,” she said. “Emotions are starting to tip over, people are starting to get really agitated.
“As you can imagine, the next step of that is people fighting for resources.”
Ms Murray questioned why the response had been so haphazard.
“Where’s the operational framework? Each evacuation centre should have an army sergeant running the show … (instead) we have teachers,” she said.
Ballina Heights resident Jaishree Solanki, whose family runs a discount store that was inundated in Lismore’s CBD, said she had been unable to return to assist in the clean-up because she could not find fuel. Her internet has also been cut off.
“I think something should be done about it … it’s such a modern world,” Ms Solanki said. “It’s devastating, we are really worried; my son Minesh and (his wife) Jaysika, they’re mostly in the shop and they’re just devastated.”
And Lismore youth worker Jacqui Adams said government promises of support were yet to reach her area.
“You don’t see police, you don’t see SES, you don’t see the army — there’s no one,” she said. “It’s very confusing and we feel abandoned.”
It comes as the NSW death toll rose to five.
The body of the man, believed to be aged in his 40s, was found at Byrril Creek Rd near Terragon, south of Murwillumbah, about 2pm.
The bodies of country singer Marge Graham and fellow Lismore resident Lorraine Hyman, both aged in their 80s, were located in their homes. Stuart Bock, 56, was found dead in floodwaters on Wednesday.
A fourth man aged in his 70s, whose body was discovered in a flooded South Lismore unit on Wednesday, has yet to be identified.
Many worry Lismore may not bounce back economically.
Lismore Chamber of Commerce president Ellen Kronen, whose craft store was flooded, said the town had a “tough” backbone, but she conceded some businesses may not reopen.
“I can’t lie when I say I’m worried about how we’re going to move forward from this,” she said. “It’s like a bomb … just in the CBD and say South Lismore … we’ve got 80 to 100 per cent (of businesses impacted).
Ms Kronen also said Lismore was “pretty much uninsurable now”.
Peter Lewis, who runs a music store, said Lismore’s CBD had “changed forever”.
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Originally published as Northern NSW flood victims accuse authorities of abandoning them amid clean-up
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