As some of the 4000 Australian Defence Force in the local area work on rebuilding a water pipeline into Nimbin, a plea went out today to flood-displaced locals to register their whereabouts.

The plea was made at a flood recovery operations update today in the newly established Regional Recovery Coordination Centre at Southern Cross University

Northern NSW Recovery Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon described Lismore as “the most significantly impacted town in the Northern Rivers”.

Displaced

He said 1100 locals were in temporary accommodation since the flood, but more were still not accounted for.

He urged those displaced from flooded homes to register with Service NSW - or one of the eight flood recovery centres set up in the region.

Rapid Damage Assessments

“So far, we have conducted 14,800 rapid damage assessments, so the fact that we only have 1100 in temporary accommodation says that other people have sorted their own accommodation,” he said.

“We still have 56 people in the evacuation centre at the university.

“We are working to find temporary housing for those people and are working on medium to long term housing solutions for all displaced people.

“We know there are a large number of people in the community who have been affected and it’s important that we understand who those people are and what their needs are - as part of the recovery program."

One person is reported as officially missing in the Upper Wilsons Creek area and anyone with information about any missing person is urged to contact the authorities.

Register

“Registering also allows us to understand who requires assistance. We will be there to help you. “This wont be a short process and we will work with the community and council to rebuild this community.”

Dep Commissioner Lanyon said people could get the latest information on flood clean up and available services and assistance at servicensw/floods, or they can contact 137788 for assistance.

10,000 truckloads of waste

Australian Defence Force (ADF) Brigadier Robert Lording, gave an update update on recovery operations, saying that in the last week, the numbers of ADF personnel assisting in the local area had swelled from 2,500 to 4000.

“We are helping helping householders move rubbish debris from the house to curb and then onto trucks and off the streets,” he said.

There have been over 10,000 truckloads of waste moved already since clean up began – described as an ‘unprecedented’ operation on a ‘massive scale’.

Nimbin water

The Brigadier said the ADF was prioritising the repair of the water pipeline into Nimbin.

“This will allow fresh water supplies to come from the wier which was damaged,” he said.

He estimated it will take about a week to ten days for the pipe to be laid and then for civil engineers to connect it to the wier, then to the filtration and chlorination centre.

Door knocks

“We have also done over 2000 door knocks in all communities to check on the welfare of individuals. In Casino and in areas with no or limited communications or where traditional road networks are affected by landslips,” he said.

“In some isolated areas, the sheer scale and size of locations and the difficulty and size of flooding means we need air capability to get into some areas.”

Food drops

He said in Mullumbimby food drops were being made by “Singaporean comrades” doing air drops and supported by the Fijian Defence Force on the ground to get access to homesteads.

“We want to complement the work of community groups in supporting isolated areas.

Cabbage Tree Island

“We have seen the devastation on Cabbage Tree Island and Coraki.

“On the island, every house is affected and the school. We want to make sure residents have somewhere to stay and get the community back together while we rebuild.

“It’s devastating that a tight community has lost so much and wehave droppped food into remote Indigenous communities in Woodenbong, Bonalbo and Malabugilmah.”

Engineering

“We want to bring engineering assets in ­from Queensland to allow more rubbish in Lismore to be cleared off the roads.

“Some tasks in smaller communities are almost finished and then can redistribute forces in other areas.

Solutions

“We are listening to the community and council and working on solution to assist, rebuild and coordinate resources.”

The Brigadier said the ADF would remain in the local area over the coming weeks, but when the “reconstruction” phase begins the ADF would pass over the work local councils and public works facilities.

“Fixing landslips and reconstructing buildings need engineering capabilities that are beyond the capabilities of the ADF and are in the civil construction domain," he said.

He also said that the recent fire at the Telstra communications tower which disrupted communications was “unfortunate”

“We are doing lots of work to restore services to community as quickly as possible.”