Lismore floods: Chaos over stop-start evacuation

Thousands of Lismore residents were caught off-guard when the SES rescinded an evacuation order before reissuing it.

‘I just wish it would stop’: John Skudder and partner Amy Parker at their Lismore home – flooded for a second time in a matter of weeks. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Thousands of Lismore residents were caught off-guard when the SES rescinded an evacuation order before reissuing it, as flood levels threatened to peak at a near-record 12m on Wednesday.

The town levee had begun overflowing yet there was no alert as warning sirens malfunctioned.

NSW SES acting commissioner Daniel Austin said the evacuation order was lifted on Tuesday evening after consultation with the Bureau of Meteorology and local consultation.

“If we had a crystal ball, then you may make different decisions,” he said. “You make your decisions based on the information that you have at the time.”

Farm worker Matthew Joshua Schur, 48, had woken at 2am on Wednesday with a bad feeling.

The night before he and his family had been given the all clear to stay in their Lismore home but in the early hours he knew something wasn’t right.

After checking the height of the Wilson River, he woke his partner, 19-year-old daughter and dog, gathered a few possessions and sought shelter on higher ground. The family were near Lismore Showgrounds in the town’s north when they encountered floodwaters, forcing them to abandon their car.

After spending about 10 hours trying to organise a boat through the SES, friends and social media, they decided to walk through paddocks for about 1km to meet Mr Schur’s mother.

The family is now safe at Mr Schur’s parents’ house in The Channon, a village about 20km north of Lismore.

But a second flood, so soon after the February deluge wiped out their possessions, is taking its toll on the family, who hope to return home soon to start the clean-up for a second time.

“I’m normally one of these people who thrive under pressure … but in this situation I’m literally coming apart at the seams,” Mr Schur said.

John Skudder, 30, and partner Amy Parker, 32, could only watch in horror as flood water crept up to the front of their Ballina Rd house again. The couple went back to their home on Wednesday after the levee breached to prepare their already gutted home for further flooding.

Debris from last month’s flood stacked in their neighbours’ front gardens had begun to be lifted by the rising tide late on Wednesday.

Ms Parker said she did not have the words to describe her despair when they heard that the floodwaters would return.

 

“I just thought, are you kidding me? Are you for real?” she said. “All I could feel last night (when the rain was coming down) was worry. I just wish it would stop.”

The centre of Byron Bay was submerged on Wednesday night and NSW SES responded to 55 flood rescues over the previous 24 hours in the Northern Rivers and far north coast regions. Aged-care nurse Anita Brakel, 55, is believed missing in floodwaters after she was last seen in a 2017 white Holden Captiva station wagon at about 9.50pm on Tuesday on Wyrallah Road at Monaltrie, south of Lismore.

Acting NSW Premier Paul Toole said northern NSW residents could be hit by a third flood within weeks but said no one could have predicted the flash flood over the past couple of days.

“Four weeks ago, these communities were impacted by heavy rainfall in that area,” he said. “No one could have predicted they would be back here again.”

Evacuation orders remained in place on Wednesday night for North Lismore, South Lismore, East Bellingen, Bellinger River Tourist Park, Newry Island, Yellow Rock, Tumbulgum, Urunga CBD, Bellinger Keys and low lying areas in Lower Macleay, Kyogle, north Bellingen, North Macksville, Newry Island and Urunga.

Bureau of Meteorology Meteorologist Dean Narramore said major flooding was occurring on the Wilson, the Richmond, the Clarence, the Bellinger and Orara rivers.

“It’s expected to be a wet night for many parts of the mid-north coast and that’s likely to see further river level rises on numerous rivers.”