NSW Flood inquiry: Harrowing stories from the Tweed revealed

An inquiry into the floods in Northern NSW travelled to the Tweed on Wednesday where survivors shared their stories.

Harrowing stories of the night of February 28 have been retold by Tweed residents at the Tumbulgum Town Hall on Wednesday.

The meeting formed part of the NSW flood inquiry led by Professor Mary O’Kane and retired NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller looking into the response and preparedness for the event.

The key messages that came out of the meeting were the need to fix Blacks drain in South Murwillumbah, looking at dredging the Tweed River, more accurate evacuation warnings and having grassroots systems in place for future emergencies.

Inaccurate warnings

Lachlan Donaldson speaks at the NSW Flood inquiry session at Tumbulgum Hall on May 4, 2022. Picture: Liana Walker

Residents in Tumbulgum were told the river would rise to 2.5m – a height which was of no concern to Lachlan Donaldson who had been through floods before since moving in 2019.

“By the time we were issued any warning the water levels to get out of our house were already 7 foot deep,” he said.

“There was no possible way we could evacuate.”

He said the SES evacuation warning had come too late for his family to safely leave and he had to wait for volunteers on boats to rescue them.

“That response isn’t good enough at any level,” he said.

He said once his family was able to get to the bridge at Tumbulgum he was unsure how long they’d be waiting, potentially overnight in the pouring rain.

“That was the only way we could be sure we weren’t going to drown with our families,” he said.

The villages

Peter Bennett from Tyalgum told the inquiry he felt areas such as his that weren’t directly affected by flood waters but the aftermath were missing out.

“I live in the hinterland, it was impacted by land slips, flash flooding and rain damage,” he said.

“We don't fit within the terms of reference.”

The landslides were a recurring theme at the meeting with a number of attendees questioning how long it would take to fix major roads including Scenic Drive and the Tyalgum Road.

Byrrill Creek resident Joanna Gardiner said their village was cut off from communications for 10 days where one person lost their life and the two main bridges to town were destroyed.

She said there are now seven landslips between Uki and Nimbin which needed to be reconstructed in a better way to stop them getting destroyed again along with the bridge over the Tweed River.

Blacks Drain

Rebecca Hughes and Sue Mills at the NSW Flood inquiry. Picture: Liana Walker

Tweed Valley Way resident Sue Mills said unlike previous floods which had only affected the bottom floor of her South Murwillumbah home, this time she saw water seep 10cm onto the top floor.

She said Blacks Drain had broken twice now in 2017 and 2022 and combined with the railway line behind their home had caused a big damming effect.

“Once it floods we can’t get out,” she said.

Mrs Mills ended up contacting the department of education to get permission to break into a school to evacuate overnight and is now working to organise to hold a key for future emergencies.

She was one of several people to say the Tweed River needed to be dredged.

Insurance

On a different part of Tweed Valley Way closer to Condong Rebecca Hughes evacuated before matters could get worse.

A moderate to minor flood warning was issued for her area, which she initially wasn’t concerned about however after hearing a fire truck go down the street and made the decision to leave.

“I had no idea for about four or five days because we were stuck at the evacuation centre,” she said.

“I’ve only got a low home and it was up to the window sill all the way through the home so I’ve lost everything.”

She said she’d like to be able to build a flood refuge above her shed as her house isn’t able to be raised.

Now her main concern is if she’ll be able to be insured in the future.

“That’s what’s crippling people – they either cannot get insurance and it’s destroyed their lives,” she said.

“Or like me – I’ve got insurance, I don’t know if I’ll have it next year, if I don’t get insurance next year what’s the point in doing the repairs?”

She said there was no reason the insurance companies should be charging as much as they do and said insurance companies were more concerned about low risk and paying their share holders.

“Yes we have to pay more – I live in a flood area – but not the exorbitant amounts.”

Lessons not learned

Michael Chaplin outside Tumbulgum Hall. Picture: Liana Walker

Michael Chaplin had already lived through catastrophic floods that completely wiped out towns when he lived in Murphys Creek near Toowoomba in 2011.

He felt government officials had not learned anything from the event a decade ago which saw the town of Grantham relocated, similar to talks in Lismore.

Mr Chaplin described the event like a tsunami of flood water which came down the Toowoomba range wiping out several towns along the way. He was disappointed with the government’s lack of planning.

“What is the shame is the amount of volunteers on the ground – they're just regular people,” he said.

“There is no coordination from the Government, they don't have plans in place.”

He said there needed to be overarching bodies who coordinated these disaster responses instead of relying on people like himself who went out in their own boats to rescue people.

“People have been living here for 70 years, these farmers they don't want to just rip the land apart, they’re experts they’ve seen it

“We need to take notice of them and some of them have some really good flood mitigation ideas.”

Rebuild delays

Mayor Chris Cherry.

Mayor Chris Cherry who attended the Town Hall said council was working on mitigating one of the issues brought up which was delays in development application approvals that allow people to renovate.

“We have been talking to the state government about that - trying to get a flying planning squad to come in and help with the DA assessments but also help with people putting their applications in,” she said.

She said one of the expected recommendations from the inquiry would be an overhaul of the current town planning measures given the increased frequency of “1 in 100” year floods.

She said the council would accept whatever recommendations come out of the inquiry.

“We want to help as much as we can,” she said.

“Everything is on the table.”

The Inquiry is required to report to the Premier on causation, land use planning and management and related matters by June 30 and all other matters by September 30.

Residents can make written submissions here.