Chris McMahon, Susan Dasya, Robert Creedon join chorus of voices against parts of Lismore being relocated after flood

Lismore residents have had their say on the idea that parts of the town should be relocated in the wake of devastating floods. Here’s what they think.

Lismore residents are shunning suggestions the town should relocate to higher ground despite having to rebuild in the wake of a devastating flood event for the second time in five years.

That is the overwhelming consensus from members of the public who spoke with The Northern Star only 48 hours after they were allowed to return to the disaster zone in the CBD.

Many of them business owners like Susan Dasya and Robert Creedon, who in the dark of night were forced to evacuate their town amid record-level raging floodwaters last week.

(L-R) Lismore business owner Susan Dasya with her daughter, volunteer Ian and partner Robert Creedon. Picture: Kaitlyn Smith.

Ms Dasya only relocated her boutique from Bangalow to The Strand at Lismore in November last year along with a separate manufacturing site along Woodlark St.

Off the back of a week of sleepless nights and covered in mud – no business to return to – the pair remained adamant they had little interest in seeing the town relocate.

“The stock that I’ve lost is all things that I’ve actually made with my own hands, and a few things with other makes,” Ms Dasya said.

“We sold our house to buy this building, to make a place for people to be able to work. I was hoping to be able to offer half-a-dozen to 10 employment options.”

“Now we’re trying to work out how to clean it up and fix it up so it’s not going to deteriorate while we try and figure out what to do.”

The pair join a chorus of frustrated locals sceptical of the government response and flood mitigation strategy in the tragedy’s aftermath.

Lismore CBD in ruins. Picture: Kaitlyn Smith.

Still, moving is not the answer: “It’s a fabulous town, that’s why I moved here. It has everything, great people, a rich history, two hospitals, great restaurants.”

“Where would we relocate to?

Mr Creedon added: “Even with the waste from this clean-up, they have such problem trying to figure out where to put it, so just having problems with that doesn’t say much for relocating.”

“We’ve already got a massive homeless problem in the Northern Rivers, to suggest that is not practical. How would people afford to build their buildings somewhere else after all this?”

A better solution would be to improve Lismore’s infrastructure as well as both its management and flood warning systems, according to Ms Daysa.

That’s an opinion that South Lismore resident Chris McMahon agrees with.

Mr McMahon has been a South Lismore resident for just over two years and is a former concreter who knows the community has the ideas to make Lismore floodproof.

South Lismore resident Chris McMahon has rubbished the idea of Lismore being relocated Picture: Nicholas Rupolo.

There are more than two thousand people that live on the other side of the CBD who were inundated within minutes of the levee overtopping last Monday.

In the days since Mr McMahon entered a stranger’s tinnie to escape his flooded home he hasn’t paid a seconds thought to the idea of relocating Lismore.

“It’s a cop-out,” he said.

“That means they will never address the drainage properly.

“How do you relocate thousands of families into homes?”

Mr McMahon says multiple residents in his street have taken the time to elevate their homes well above previous flood levels.

He says the neighbours across the road elevated their house from 12 metres to 14.4 metres a few years ago which was almost on par with the level the most recent flood reached.

“We have the ideas but the politicians stupidity reigns supreme,” Mr McMahon said.

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