NSW Floods: Lismore recovery base run by police, defence force

Troop numbers have risen to nearly 4000 across the Northern Rivers as authorities make headway into remote communities isolated for weeks by flood damage.

Police leading the Northern Rivers flood response want people to report anyone missing to them as they hear “whispers” about residents unaccounted for since the devastating deluge.

Officers were on Friday looking for a person missing from Upper Wilsons Creek but NSW Police Force regional recovery co-ordinator Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said there could be more.

“We’ve certainly heard … whispers within the community that there may be more,” Deputy Commissioner Lanyon said.

“We would just encourage those people to report it formally so that we know and we can certainly investigate that.”

About 1500 troops have hit the ground across northern NSW in the past week to bolster a massive flood recovery mission.

The influx has taken the number of defence personnel in the region to nearly 4000, which doesn’t include assistance from Singaporean and Fijian defence forces, which have also been helping.

Deputy Commissioner Lanyon said the sheer scale and size of the flood had held authorities back from entering some the region’s remote communities but good progress was now being made.

“It is not possible to get into some of those areas without air (craft) and we have used air assets where we have needed to,” he said.

“It has been a priority to reach into all areas.”

Australian Defence Force NSW Flood Assist commander Brigadier Rob Lording and NSW Police Force officer Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon run a flood recovery co-ordination centre at Southern Cross University.

He said about 10,000 truckloads of waste had been moved in the past two weeks but there was still much to do.

“The fact that we continue to move at pace should give some comfort to the community that we have our priorities right,” he said.

A Regional Recovery Coordination Centre has been set up at Southern Cross University to organise resources where they are needed.

Deputy Commissioner Lanyon said about 1100 people were still in temporary accommodation and 65 people were still in an evacuation centre at the university.

“We are working quickly to try to make sure that we can find temporary housing for those people,” he said.

He said 14,800 rapid damage assessments had been conducted.

“The fact that we only have 1100 (people) in temporary accommodation says that other people have sorted their own accommodation.”

Australian Defence Force NSW Flood Assist commander Brigadier Rob Lording said troops were clearing rubbish, landslips and helping with food drops.

Australian Army soldiers Sapper Brayden Taylor (left) and Sapper Daniel Coleman work with Lismore City Council worker Ian Mackie to restore water to Nimbin. Picture: Australian Defence Force

They are also helping to install a water pipeline at Nimbin, a job which is expected to be complete before the end of March.

Brigadier Lording said the troops would be around for “weeks” in the initial stages of the recovery but the reconstruction phase would be handled by more appropriately skilled authorities.

“For example, the landslips that have occurred, they are going to require significant engineering capabilities that are perhaps beyond the capacity of the Australian Defence Force,” he said.

He said the centre of Lismore was clearly the most significantly impacted town in the region and would take up the majority of the defence force’s effort but troops would go where they were needed.