Northern NSW floods: More than 3000 calls for help in one day
As communities across the North Coast grapple with the impacts of ongoing flooding, footage has emerged of an amazing SES rescue near Casino. Rolling updates
Lismore
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The history-making flooding which has destroyed homes and business across Lismore, Ballina and outlying centres like Woodburn has sparked more than 3000 calls for help in just a day.
The NSW State Emergency Service said on Thursday it had received 3166 calls for assistance.
As the massive east coast low started moving into the Sydney metropolitan area, the busiest locations have been: Gosford (403 calls) Wyong (223) Penrith (177) Liverpool (167) Blacktown (134) Lismore (118) Ballina (116).
Earlier in the week, it was reported there had been more than 1000 rescues across the Lismore area.
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Brave rescue for adorable puppies and three-month-old baby
An incredible rescue has taken place in Casino where SES have rescued a litter of adorable puppies and a young family.
Residents warned levee wall may fail
The SES have announced an emergency evacuation order for Maclean residents as concerns for the town levee mount.
Maclean residents have been warned by the SES the levee may wall may “fail”.
If the levee wall is “compromised”, built-up flood water from the Clarence River will enter the town and could cause “inundation”.
NSW SES are currently offloading truckloads of dirt and gravel at the site of the levee wall to contain the potential burst.
NSW SES told residents to “act now and be prepared”.
Maclean residents will be sent an evacuation alert via mobile phone as the town does not have an alarm.
Ulmarra SES Unit Manager Sue Chappell said it was particularly important to ensure the elderly, disabled and sick relatives in the lower laying parts of Maclean are evacuated as soon as possible.
Residents have been warned to “prepare yourselves, animals, livestock and property”.
An evacuation centre is open in Maclean Showground.
Maclean aged care providers have moved swiftly to put emergency plans into action.
Mareeba Aged Care Maclean have moved all residents and staff to the second floor of the two storey building.
“This is per our safety contingency plan and is well above the flood zone,” said a Mareeba spokesperson.
All essential items such as clothing and medication were moved upstairs along with residents and staff.
“We have enough food, water and essentials stored ready to access if needed.
“Staff will be with your loved ones at all times.”
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the Clarence River at Maclean is currently at 3.02 metres and falling.
The river is predicted to fall below the major flood level (2.50 m) during Friday.
Life-saving medications choppered in
A chopper filled with life saving drugs has brought desperately-needed relief at a Lismore chemist that has been overrun in the days since flood water destroyed much of the town.
Chemist Warehouse Lismore owner Kate Daniel said she had seen traumatised people who had been through horrendous situations but had somehow managed to keep their spirits up.
“As a community everyone seems to be rallying behind each other and really supporting each other,” Mrs Daniel said.
“It’s certainly been a crazy time.”
She said the store had been swamped with more than twice as many customers as normal who formed a lengthy queue for scripts.
“The volume of scripts is unprecedented and we have run out of a lot of lifesaving medications,” she said.
Her staff have also been dispensing medicine for evacuation centres with the help of pharmacists from Lismore Base and St Vincent’s hospitals.
“Most people are turning up with no prescriptions, no medications, no Medicare card, so it’s a matter of trying to co-ordinate how we supply these people with their regular medications,” Mrs Daniel said.
A helicopter was chartered from Brisbane to drop off vital drugs including insulin and heart medicine on Thursday.
Landslide and sinkhole close Yamba Main Beach
A landslide at Pilot’s Hill, Yamba is hampering Surf Life Saving rescue attempts for flood affected residents.
Yamba Surf life Saving Club President Joe Dougherty said it has affected the club’s ability to attend call-out events.
“We got tasked for something at Palmers Island and we couldn’t go,” Mr Dougherty said.
“The road that runs down to the beach is closed and not safe and definitely not drivable,” he explained.
This leaves the club members with no access to get the inflatable raft boats out of the building and up the hill.
“We can’t do patrols at the beach.
“It’s a danger to members,” Mr Dougherty said.
Yamba Surf Life Saving Club Life Member, Jim Dougherty said on Tuesday after the rain they identified the edge of the cliff face had fallen away and there were some cracks in the track.
“The biggest problem is part of the main road collapsed and about halfway down the sewer line is cracked and broken,” he said.
“It’s been a big flood and long slow peak and we have to ride it out.”
Grocery gap to remain a little longer
Grocery and fuel shortages continue to hit the region as it attempts to move into flood recovery mode.
Products limits are being applied in several stores across Northern NSW as oil companies struggle to meet the demand for petrol with some stations completely empty.
A spokesperson for the major supermarket said Woolworths is working to gain access to these stores as soon as possible to assess damage and reopen as soon as possible.
“The last 24-hours has delivered welcome progress with receding flood waters allowing us to re-establish supply to our stores in Goonellabah in the Lismore area, Byron Bay, Casino, Mullumbimby and Lennox Heads.
“We’re now sending as much stock of essential products into these stores as possible, especially into our Goonellabah store, which has already received three truckloads this morning - and we have more on the way.
“Unfortunately, with the disruptions to supply in recent days across northern NSW and the high demand from communities restocking essentials, we know there’s likely to be some gaps on shelves for a while longer, and we thank our customers for their understanding.
Fuel is also in scarce commodity with many stations across the North Coast out of stock.
Petrol stations in Alstonville have been restocked but were met immediately by queues stretching more than 20-cars long.
Goonellabah petrol stations along Ballina Road have had shortages of Premium Unleaded and Diesel fuel and in some cases have no stock left.
A spokesperson from Ampol said the two stations in Lismore remain closed and their immediate attention was with emergency services.
Coles, Woolworths and other supermarket chains are working closely with Resilience NSW to coordinate efforts to restock shelves on the Northern Rivers.
‘One in 1000 year flood’: Ballina Island cut off
Ballina Island remains cut off from surrounding areas after historic flooding hit the town this week.
Frustrations were running high when countless Ballina residents tried to return home to the CBD on Wednesday, only to be turned away.
At the same time major communication network issues were affecting the town along with much of the Northern Rivers.
The full scale of damage to the Ballina CBD is not yet known but on Wednesday police had erected roadblocks to keep people from trying to return to the flood-ravaged streets, many of them still inundated from the swollen Richmond River.
Police roadblocks were erected on the CBD side of Missingham Bridge – heading from East Ballina – on Angels Beach Drive.
The town has also been cut off from the north at Tamarind Drive and from the south and west.
Speaking from a rare pocket of phone reception, Ballina mayor Sharon Cadwallader said the town was in a “desperate situation”.
“I said (earlier) it was a one in 500 year event but it’s actually a one in 1000 year event, I believe, now,” Ms Cadwallader said.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the river topple over like it has and to fill up the main CBD of Ballina.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see the homes flooded.”
On the frontline of the disaster have been “tired volunteers doing extraordinary work”, she said.
Ms Cadwallader said phone reception and other communication problems had worsened things.
“Even the fuel cards … my fuel card wouldn't work; The SES fuel cards wouldn’t work because of the terminals being shut down,” she said.
“All the resources are being stretched to the armpits everywhere but council staff are doing great work. SES are doing phenomenal work.”
Ms Cadwallader said she had with her house guests who had stopped in on their way to the Gold Coast before becoming stranded, and her son who has lost his home in Lismore.
“I’m feeling devastated, I’m feeling absolutely gutted,” she said.
At the same time, she said she “couldn‘t be more proud” of the way her community was coming together.
Large number of flood rescues in Ballina area
Flood rescues were unfolding in Ballina and surrounds at a “tremendous” rate on Wednesday according to Jim Fuggle from Ballina’s SES unit.
Mr Fuggle warned after the town was extensively flooded, waters could fall and rise again, depending on tidal movements and further flows from upstream.
He urged people not to return to the town for any reason.
“We’ve seen a lot of traffic coming from Lennox Head for some reason,” he said.
“I just want to reiterate for no one to come into Ballina for any reason whatsoever.”
Medical services from the evacuated Ballina Hospital have been moved to a nearby evacuation centre at Xavier Catholic College, Skennars Head.
Mr Fuggle said there had been lots of people in trouble in the Ballina CBD and surrounds.
“We have been performing flood rescues at a tremendous rate and I would expect that having a look at the figures we'd be … over 100 easily,” he said.
“We have our Ballina SES unit members, we have Ballina unit special flood rescue crews, we have SES members from other areas of NSW specialising in flood rescue.”
He said Surf Life Saving members were helping with their equipment and boats.
“We have the Army with a vehicle that's capable of going through a large amount of water,” he said.
“All of those assets have been utilised.
“We have, in addition to that, in areas particularly south of Ballina – in Pimlico, Keith Hall, Patches Beach areas, we have had numerous rescues by helicopter in excess of 60 people today (Wednesday).”
He urged people not to leave evacuation centres to try to return home until the authorities tell them it’s safe to do so.
“Do not breach the evacuation order just because you see some change in the level of the water,” he said.
He said the flooding was unprecedented for Ballina.
“This incident is a historic incident,” he said.
“No one in living memory has seen an incident in any way comparable to this.”
Kayakers rescue cow from raging floodwaters
Seeing livestock in Ballina CBD parkland is ordinarily a strange sight.
But on Tuesday, this was one sign of locals and emergency services banding together in the face of a flood emergency.
Residents of Ballina Island were urged by the NSW State Emergency Service to evacuate to higher ground overnight on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, after some flooding impacted the CBD and surrounds, people from inundated waterfront properties took to the raging Richmond River on kayaks when they saw a young cow in the torrent.
Dave Pollard was helping to sandbag his mother’s place when the events unfolded.
“One of the neighbours started yelling out,” Mr Pollard said.
“We didn’t know what she was talking about but then we got a bit closer and could see that she had found a cow, a live cow, just looking pretty exhausted.
“All you could see was just its nose above the water.”
Mr Pollard jumped in a kayak to help encourage the cow to shore.
Nearby resident Edwina Browning-Wager heard the commotion and took to the water, too.
“I had rescued a pelican recently … so I know that it’s hard to try and keep the animal in to shore,” she said.
Once on the water, she said they faced really difficult conditions.
“It was really hard, the water was crazy and I forgot my life jacket,” she said.
Ms Browning-Wager insisted Mr Pollard was the most instrumental in getting the cow to shore.
At the riverbank near Ballina RSL, others pitched in.
“We jumped in the kayak and kind of got it close to the shore and then a whole group of good Samaritans came and we banded together and pulled it out,” Mr Pollard said.
“It was a pretty big scene there for a while but I’m just glad we got the cow out.”
Ballina man Ollie Saric was among the team that helped.
“The fire crew was over at the RSL pumping water out of the carpark, they’ve also seen what was going on,” Mr Saric said.
Koori Mail unable to print
The Koori Mail will not be able publish next week for the first time in 30 years .
General manager Naomi Moran confirmed on Thursday two levels of the three-storey building on Magellan St, was under water.
Two senior staff members, including editor Rudi Maxwell, have lost their homes.
“Not publishing for the first time in 30 years was a difficult decision to make but we are all affected by this,” Ms Moran said.
“Our local Bundjalung communities have become our priority for now, they have all been affected by the devastating impacts of this flood.”
Late on Wednesday, NSW police sent out an updated list of all evacuation centres for NSW after the SES website was swamped. However there were reports overnight the email was sent out in error.
The Northern Star is seeking official confirmation from police.
Four people have now died in the state’s flood disaster, with authorities recently confirming a man in his 70s was discovered inside a home in South Lismore.
In a press conference on Thursday morning NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced a number of defence force, SES and RFS teams would be headed to the Northern Rivers to help support a clean up effort as soon as possible.
“We know many people are returning to heartbreaking scenes,” Mr Perrottet said.
“Whilst those devastating scenes are in place, what I saw yesterday (in Grafton) was such high spirit.”
The announcement comes as the Bureau of Meteorology warns the Northern Rivers is likely to see showers and severe thunderstorms that will lead to intense and dangerous flash flooding.
Major and moderate flooding continues across the region.
NSW police commissioner Karen Webb warned residents not to park under trees with high winds likely to cause trees to be uprooted and fall over.
She said the possibility of fallen trees was also likely to impact power supplies in the area.
“We are going in and doing assessment on the damage,” she said
“We are trying to clear those properties and get people into their homes and businesses as soon as possible.”
To help provide supplies to the Northern Rivers, the RFS water tanker helicopter has been converted into freight with the ability to transport up to 10 tonnes of produce into the region.
Mr Perrottet said while disaster relief funding had already been announced, if there were any gaps in the criteria the state government would look to fill them to help those devastated by the floods.
Ballina meanwhile remains cut off from surrounding areas after historic flooding hit the town on Wednesday.
Frustrations were running high when countless Ballina residents tried to return home to the CBD, only to be turned away.
At the same time major communication network issues were affecting the town along with much of the Northern Rivers.
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