Lismore flood death: Body of missing nurse Alina Brakel found in North Lismore
The desperate search for a woman who went missing in Northern NSW flood waters earlier this week has come to a tragic end, with the aged care nurse’s body found in North Lismore on Thursday night.
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The Northern Rivers is mourning the sixth flood death in four weeks amid tributes from across Australia for Alina Brakel who was found in flood waters on Thursday night.
Mrs Brakel, an aged care nurse, has been remembered as caring and dedicated to her nursing profession in an online outpouring of grief.
The 55-year old went missing on Tuesday evening in Monaltrie, 5km south of Lismore and was tragically found in flood waters in North Lismore just before 7pm on Thursday night.
Mrs Brakel was originally from Nowra but was spending time in Northern NSW for work.
“I worked with her for almost two years,” a former colleague wrote on Facebook.
“(She was a) great lady and very caring to the elderly residents. She will be sadly missed.”
Another person wrote that she was “very dedicated to her profession”.
NSW residents, who have bee shocked at the disastrous weather in the region over the last month, offered their condolences to the family of the first victim of the second flood.
“So very sad and upsetting for her family, sending condolences to her family and friends,” another person wrote.
“Rest in peace dear lady.”
Her white Holden Captiva which she was seen to be driving before she went missing is yet to be found.
Inspector Bill McKenna on Friday afternoon that police are executed further searches for the vehicle and search is continuing.
Police have contacted next of kin but a formal identification has yet to be determined.
Police believe Ms Brake was leaving Turella, 10km north of Lismore, when she failed to contact loved ones that she arrived safely at home.
“An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death is underway and a report will be prepared for the information of the coroner."
Shocking images show true devastation
New photos have revealed the devastation of the Lismore floods after State Emergency Service officials continued to defend their decision to lift evacuation orders only to reinstate them hours later.
Swamped State Emergency Service volunteers have dealt with more than 500 requests for assistance across the Northern Rivers and Mid-North to 5am since Monday.
Most have come from Ballina (181) and then Mullum Byron (149). There have been 45 flood rescues in the last 24 hours for the Northern Rivers and Mid-North Coast with 30,000 people impacted – 26,800 under evacuation order, a further 3,000 on evacuation alert.
There were 20 evacuation orders in place across northern NSW but only 523 people have so far been accommodated in centres, far fewer than in the first major flood in late February/March.
Byron Bay and Ballina both copped a tsunami of water with Ballina recording 900mm of rain in the past week, most of it on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On social media, many Lismore locals have blasted the Bureau of Meteorology and the SES hierarchy for failing to tip the massive flooding, and give residents enough time to evacuate.
In places like Ballina, there were no evacuation warnings.
State Emergency Service (SES) Acting Commissioner Daniel Austin on Thursday again defended the decision given the river levels at the time.
"We do not have the joy of hindsight when predicting whether or not to lift those warnings.
"And at the point in time, it is still my belief that that call was the right call to make."
But many residents said weather sites like Higgins Storm Chasing did a better job of warning what was coming than the weather bureau.
‘Fend for yourself’: Lessons from Lismore’s 1954 flood
Lismore resident Neil Flynn, who was a teenager during the 1954 floods, says people of the town shouldn’t criticise emergency services because it was “every man for himself” back in the day.
Mr Flynn, 83, was evacuated from his Mackenzie Street home in Lismore four weeks ago and believes he had none of the support the community gets today when Lismore experienced record flooding in 19544 when he was 16 years old.
“I think they do the best they can,” he said.
“I was born in 1938. I’ve seen Lismore flood in 1954. There was no in-built flood warning system or anything like that in, no SES we’d never heard of that, it was more or less fend for yourself type of thing.”
Mr Flynn was living on a dairy farm in South Lismore during the flood and his grandfather Peter, who was born in Scotland, came close to dying when the Wilson river peaked at 13.4 metres.
He says people are lucky that they have support of emergency services like the SES and Rural Fire Service when disaster strikes.
“The amount of help and support people get after these floods has been great,” he said.
Residents have criticised the Bureau of Meteorology for their preparation for the second major flood in four weeks with some saying they are losing faith in their emergency services.
Byron and Yamba storm ‘akin to cyclone’, says BOM
The Bureau of Meteorology says the heavy localised rainfall leading to flash flooding and gale force winds along the NSW North Coast were akin to a “category one cyclone”.
Rainfall totals reached almost 300mm in Ballina and 400mm in areas near Lismore on Tuesday with Byron Bay and Yamba experiencing almost 80km/h wind gusts.
The second major flood in four weeks sparked concern among residents who believed the severe thunderstorms resembled more of a cyclone than a heavy rain event.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jenny Spurrock said the event was close to a cyclone but couldn’t officially be defined as one.
“I can understand why people would think it was actually a hybrid cyclone,” she said.
“It was gusty and windy with significant rainfall and flooding which are all the things we experience with a cyclone but cyclones have tropical features.
“This storm did not have a warm core structure because it was a low pressure system.”
The weather system did not develop the same way a cyclone would which includes 90km/h winds at the core but Mrs Spurrock acknowledged some of the impacts in North NSW were similar to those seen in category one cyclones.
Northern Rivers residents are beginning to lose faith in the accuracy of the Bureau of Meteorology after evacuation orders were lifted before hundreds of millimetres of rain caused major flooding.
The blame game has well and truly started as Mrs Spurrock defended the Bureau in the lead up to the major floods but said the weather system moved faster than anticipated and that she “understands where people are coming from” when criticising the predictions.
“It was unfortunate this system spun up a few 100 kilometres away from where guidance had suggested it might be focused more offshore,” she said.
“We ran several model iterations changing conditions to give us an idea of what are some of the possibilities were but the system moved to the adjacent land and the heavy rain concentrated on already sodden ground.”
‘Almost cyclonic’: Cars underwater, flash flooding in Byron
North Coast regions of Ballina and Byron have been inundated with severe storms overnight with questions being raised about why neither area received any sort of evacuation warning.
Byron Bay recorded 248mm in the past 24 hours while Ballina airport recorded 274mm of rain.
Byron Shire mayor Michael Lyon said “questions need to be asked” about why the Bureau of Meteorology did not predict the intensity of the rain he is getting.
“At the Higgins site they were predicting this exact event would happen but we didn’t get warnings until an hour or two ago,” he said.
“I think having it earlier would’ve allowed people to prepare a lot better.
“We’ve had a lot of flooding of businesses in the CBD, we have a lot of cars underwater, I don’t want to place blame but there were some predicting the event would unfold like this and it wasn’t through official channels.
“Last night, when I saw how much rain was falling, you could tell the spell was going to sit here for more than 12 hours so I wonder why we didn’t get the warning from BOM.”
Mr Lyon said there had not been an evacuation order in Byron yet, which he thought was appropriate because there was only flash flooding at this stage as opposed to river flooding.
He said people in Byron and Suffolk Park were in distress and afraid they would suffer what those in the Hinterland copped just a month ago. At his stage, he had no reports of any injuries.
Flood siren fails, rain gauges questioned in Lismore flood
Lismore’s second major flood evacuation is underway after the Wilsons River topped the town’s flood levee, while a malfunction in the alarm system meant sirens did not sound.
Residents were issued with an evacuation order in the early hours of Wednesday, after being told earlier on Tuesday afternoon to return to their homes.
NSW SES Lismore City Unit posted the alert to Facebook on Wednesday, urging residents to “get out of the CBD immediately” as the overtopping of Lismore Levee is “imminent”.
It read that the sirens will not sound due to a malfunction. At 9am, the SES issued a major flood alert that the Wilsons River at Lismore “will overtop the levee” and is expected to exceed 10.6 metres.
Rain gauges around Lismore have also been found to be off by almost half a metre when State Emergency Service personal performed manual checks on Wednesday morning.
SES Lismore posted on social media there was a 400mm difference between the countdown display on the Browns Creek pump station and the actual water level.
“This means if the levee overtops, the display will be still show 0.4 metres remaining, even as the water commences flowing over the levee,” the post read.
Evacuation orders in Mullumbimby and Billinudgel had been lifted and Mayor Lyon said it was safe for residents to return.
Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said council staff were attempting to open evacuation centres however the severe storms had made it unsafe for staff to get to the centres to open them.
“We haven't had the bank topple over it’s not expected that will happen,” she said.
“The unknown is what going to fall from the sky.
“That’s where it becomes hard to predict – the rain bombs we’ve had overnight the cyclonic winds we are experiencing now and overnight.”
Ms Cadwallader said she had been up all night answering Facebook posts and calls as severe storms hit the coast.
In the 24 hours to 9am Ballina airport recorded 274mm of rain, with the highest reading at Alstonville recording 387mm.
Ms Cadwallader has urged residents to stay home unless there was an absolute emergency stating there were 430 personnel on standby from the defence force and SES to respond to the ongoing emergency.
“We did expect flash flooding,” she said.
“We’ve copped a wild night – it’s almost cyclonic.”
She said the worst was yet to come from the storms following high tide in an area not yet recovered from flooding a month ago.
“We are all feeling a bit battle weary,” she said.
“We’re in there for the long haul still marching on.”
Evacuation centres are expected to open around Ballina one it is safe for staff to do so.
An unofficial evacuation centre is in operation at the Cherry Street Sports Centre.
Residents are also asked to conserve water usage to help stop the town pumps from becoming overloaded.
Anyone requiring assistance should call the SES on 132 500 or in an emergency call triple-0.
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