The Disaster After The Disaster
We are less than one month out from the most devastating flood event in this region’s history, and we have found ourselves yet again under evacuation orders, as we watch the rain continue to fall.
But this time people are traumatized, exhausted, and grief-stricken. Thousands have spent the last month tirelessly working to scrape the pieces of their lives back together, scouring and gutting their houses, washing their few salvageable belongings, attempting to rehabilitate their land and fix their roads, searching for lost and dead animals, spending hours submitting paperwork to insurance and government authorities, all the while slowly coming to terms with the immensity of their losses.
This was the 1-in-500 year flood we had been warned of. And yet, a month later, our region is on flood watch and under mandatory evacuation orders yet again.
It’s hard to comprehend what’s happening for those who aren’t here. The news coverage is spotty at best and most have moved on to the world’s next tragedy, of which there are and always will be many.
But for those of us that are here, we are met continuously with the raw anguish of the thousands of friends, neighbors, relatives, and community members who are enduring yet another storm.
At this point in time we have thousands of people who have been displaced, their homes annihilated by the floods, without any sort of substantial help from the government.
Despite the 551 million dollar flood relief package that was funded jointly by the NSW state and federal governments, we have thousands and thousands of people without safe, clean, dry places to sleep. These climate change refugees are camping in tents, moving back into
Narelle standing in what was once “Byndees”, her quilting shop in Woodburn. Both her shop and home flooded to capacity, destroying everything in sight.
condemned homes and sleeping in their cars with babies and partners. While the government has slapped large numbers together and proselytized a swift recovery, the people of Lismore, Woodburn, Coraki, Main Arm and many others have yet to see the help they have been promised.
For those in Lismore, flood insurance isn’t a thing.
They aren’t even eligible for it because they live in a flood zone. And they live in a flood zone because it is far more affordable than non-flood zones in this region, a region that was in a crippling housing crisis before the floods even came. Without any other viable options, many have no choice but to rebuild their lives where they lost them. And yet here we are less than a month later, with the rains pounding down yet again, and Lismore being evacuated.
On the ground, this disaster has been a horrible failing from the Government. From being completely and totally MIA as the catastrophic floods unfolded, to sending troops of ADF to the scene who weren’t even mobilized to help to empty promises of temporary and long term accommodations for flood victims.
Without any sign of help coming from the Federal Government, the local communities stepped up and stepped in, thousands of untrained civilian volunteers led their own guerrilla rescues, hied and directed private helicopters to undertake dangerous evacuations, they built haphazard bridges across rushing floodwaters, fed and housed strangers, and managed massive community hubs for weeks on end.
When the Government finally arrived they “realized” it was a disaster and declared a state of emergency, weeks after it had unfolded. They came with big numbers and big bags of promises— a financial relief package that has been too confusing for people to access or simply irrelevant because there is no housing to be had.
And from the “sky”, it couldn’t be any clearer that we are continuing to experience the direct consequences of climate change on a heart-wrenching scale. Two years ago it was the worst fires in our history and now the worst rains. These intensifying natural disasters are intended to be wake up calls, a call to action, to change, to transformation. But we have yet to see a real, actionable, and earnest effort from our Government to curb our emissions. We need to see so much change and it really couldn’t be any clearer.
Tonight, again, thousands of people wait with bated breath to see what another night of heavy rain will bring. For so many, tomorrow has never felt so uncertain.
A short documentary on the town of Woodburn which was one of the last to receive support after the floods. It was still inundated with water when we visited 8 days after the rain. Produced and directed by The Heart Atlas.
Road to upper main arm completely destroyed by floodwater, cutting of numerous communities from access to town. Image © Oivia Katz
Support the Documentary
‘Out of the Mud’, our local feature-length documentary is soon to be released, featuring raw and honest firsthand accounts from local Northern Rivers residents following the catastrophic floods of 2022.
Now in the final stages of production, we are seeking financial and in-kind support to help get the self-funded documentary finished and screened both locally and abroad. To support the ‘Out Of The Mud’ production and its launch, please visit the GoFundMe page below.
