Northern NSW Floods: Murwillumbah, Tumbulgum hit by flooding again

Barely a month after floods devastated the Tweed region, further rainfall causing more land slips on wet soil has once again opened the discussion about land swaps and voluntary land purchase.

Barely a month since flood waters devastated the Tweed residents once again have found themselves preparing for the worst with evacuation warnings issues across the region.

Overnight on Tuesday, Tweed Heads recorded a massive 275mm in 24 hours to 9am, with surrounding areas receiving similar falls, the highest at Banora Point which received 283mm.

Evacuation warnings were put in place for Tumbulgum, North and South Murwillumbah and Condong just as residents were starting to feel a sense of normality again.

Mayor Chris Cherry said the fresh rain was “incredibly bitter” for the region.

Flooding at the bottom of Tomewin Hill on March 29, 2022. Picture: Andrew McCleod

“People are just devastated,” she said.

“They were just beginning to pick themselves up after nearly 5 weeks after they cleaned out their houses, the ones that were damaged, and managed to replace essential items.”

The mayor has gone straight into crisis management with many temporary road repairs now ruined and more land slips appearing on the roads that haven’t had a chance to dry out.

Residents around Balfours road were trapped on Tuesday as new landslips formed on the road and a Telstra pole fell down in the middle of the land slide.

Ms Cherry said council crews were working as fast as they could in the conditions.

SES Murwillumbah handing out sandbags on Monday night.

With the recent floods fresh in many people’s minds, she said people were now in generally a much better position knowing how to respond to the rising rivers.

“People are heading the warnings more,” she said.

“People are understanding this is real.”

With a second flood event so soon after the other, Ms Cherry said residents in flood prone areas seriously need to consider land swaps and voluntary house purchasing as options.

“We need to have a conversation about not keeping on doing the same thing,” she said.

“We can’t continue to repair the same place, sand replace the same things, without thinking about how we are mitigating those risks.”

Flooding across Kyogle Road at Byangum. Picture: John Lysiak

After a battle to get additional disaster relief funding in the Tweed, a week after it was announced for Lismore, Ms Cherry said she more funding was needed to provide assistance to people outside of the low income bracket.

“We need to look at the threshold – there are people out there not able to access flood assistance they should be able access,” she said.

She said extra help was also needed for people with private land slips.