Flood-hit north NSW towns begin clean-up

Phoebe Loomes | March 3, 2022

Emergency crews in northern NSW are undertaking the painful process of checking thousands of homes for missing people after the regional city of Lismore endured its worst-ever flood crisis.

NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner Paul Baxter says people need to brace for the prospect of more fatalities, after four people were found dead in the wake of the unprecedented flooding.

As the waters began to subside, two women in their 80s and a man in his 70s were discovered dead in their flooded homes, and the body of another man was found floating in a Lismore street.

Police are still working out how many people are missing and Mr Baxter said “some people just haven’t been heard from”.

Communications remain difficult in Lismore and many people who are unaccounted for may simply have been unable to make contact.

The next step involves emergency workers going house to house and speaking with locals in hard-hit areas to try to find people who have not made contact since the deluge.

“We are talking literally thousands of homes,” Mr Baxter said.

The task ahead was “epic”, and now included crews from the State Emergency Service, the Rural Fire Service, Resilience NSW and the Australian Defence Force, he said.

“This is a big disaster and it’s over such a widespread area. It’s going to be hard work.”

Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg said the NSW and federal governments needed to listen to residents, after countless homes and business were ruined as the city was inundated.

“There are plans that have been in place for many, many years to mitigate the flood levels in Lismore,” Mr Krieg said on Thursday.

The cafe owner is one of many who returned to a ruined business after the deluge subsided this week, and said the clean-up was a daunting and disgusting task.

“The smell obviously is the worst thing,” Mr Krieg told the Nine Network.

“We’ve got no power, so our coolrooms, our freezers have all been off for three or four days now and the smell is something that really does hit you, but I mean it’s just heartbreaking.”

He thought he had “done everything right to prepare for this one” but the ceiling of the building had collapsed.

“To know that there’s been over 10 feet of water through your place – what do you do?”

He took “half an hour” to take in the devastation of his own business today before putting on a different hat, and becoming the city’s mayor again.

“I’m just one of many, many thousands of people and there are hearts broken like mine all over this city.”

On Monday intense rain travelling down from southeast Queensland sparked Lismore’s record-breaking deluge.

Up to 100 people were trapped on the roofs of their houses waiting hours for help.

On Thursday, the clean-up of the mud-covered city continued as people assessed the damage and counted the losses of homes and businesses.

The devastated town is also facing food shortages – most supermarkets were underwater – as well as petrol shortages. 

Residents reported ATMs have run out of cash.

Nearby Ballina, which was hit hard by flooding, also has food and petrol shortages and is banking on freight lines reopening on Thursday.

“Many people today in the Northern Rivers and over the last 24 hours have returned home, and they are returning home to heartbreaking scenes,” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said.

ADF helicopters were being used to drop critical food supplies to evacuation centres and isolated properties.

“The challenge is going to be enormous,” Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said, pointing to issues around the disposal of piles of household waste.

The road to recovery will be “very, very long”.