At the 12:30pm daily media briefing at NSW SES Northern Rivers Headquarters in Goonellabah today, Joanna Jones, New South Wales SES Incident Controller (IC) for the weather event associated with Tropical Cyclone Alfred said it is still difficult to predict where it will cross the mainland and difficult to predict what will happen."In the Northern Rivers, we are expecting moderate to major flooding, strong winds, extremely high and dangerous surf and the normal debris associated with storm damage."The flooding that we may experience might be flash flooding, which happens very quickly and can be extremely dangerous. There might be little to no warning of flash flooding. Riverine flooding takes a little bit longer, and is associated with heavy rainfall over a prolonged period."IC Jones asked the community for help by taking some responsibility to keep informed and act when you are asked to do so by emergency services. She then went through the warning systems."A number of warnings have already been issued. These are currently advice level warnings. They are asking the community to prepare for the impacts of this weather system."If we see an escalation in impacts, an escalation in rain, those strong winds affect northern New South Wales, the community might see those warnings escalate to orange, which says that they have to do certain things in order to stay safe."Then there is the emergency alert, the red triangle. The red triangle is very serious. It says something has to be done now. Please educate yourself about the warning systems. Please keep in contact with what's happening through news and SES media, and the Hazards Near Me app."IC Jones cyclone tracking changes every six hours, and that is when they are updated.CBD businesses were busy packing up their shops today, preparing for the chance the levee wall is topped over the weekend, understanding the 130km/h cyclonic winds will make it unsafe to do so from Thursday onwards. Car yards and truck centres were moving stock to higher ground.Some sandbagging locations ran out of sand yesterday; however, IC Jones said the SES has ordered 50,000 sandbags, so they will be replaced on a regular basis.As far as SES and Emergency Services preparation is concerned, it is stepping up a gear."We have been preparing for this event for a number of days. As a result, the resources, both physical resources and personnel, are moving into the area. We're using every emergency service agency that we have at our disposal. All our emergency service partners are involved. All the councils are involved. All levels of government are assisting.Scott Tanner, District Commander for the Richmond Police District and the local Emergency Operation Controller, added to the support personnel."New South Wales Police are here to support the combat agency, being the SES. We're providing logistical support in the form of extra rescue operators that are being deployed from the western area of the state and also from the metropolitan area. We also have our aviation command bringing assets up into this area. As of tomorrow, we'll have a fully functioning Emergency Operations Centre, and that will be there to assist the SES."The thing about the Northern Rivers is that the community are well aware of the risks. We've been through this many times. So what we are asking, is that community members put their game face on, understand what their risks are. If they've got a plan to leave the area, they do so early and as the SES said, when the weather impact does happen, to stay off the roads."If you don't need to be on the road, don't. If you can avoid travel at this stage, I would suggest to delay it until this weather event has passed.Commander Tanner was an integral part of the Lismore and Northern Rivers rescue and recovery during the 2022 floods from the Emergency Operations Centre at SCU. He believes lessons have been learnt."I think we are well versed as emergency services organisations. We learnt a lot from the 2022 flood. We put a number of systems, a number of processes in place that we believe that we are in the best position going forward to get through this event. However, it does come back down to the community."The community has to listen to the advice. You know, you reflect back on 2022 when we had the first flood event. And the second flood event a month later, we still had people driving in flood water. We can't let that happen. You need to take care of yourself and your family.(Shadow Minister for Emergency Management Perin Davey, Scott Tanner, Kevin Hogan, Janelle Saffin, SES Superintendent Scott McLennan and IC Joanna Jones talking about TC Alfred)State Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin and Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan were also present at today's media briefing in support of the SES and our combat agencies."They've done a fantastic job in preparation. We were all here in 2022, we know what happened and what didn't happen, and I can assure the community that they're well prepared. The best thing we can do to keep ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, safe, is listen to the advice coming out from the SES in particular, and also prepare early. If we prepare for the worst, and we pray for the best. I just want everybody to be as prepared as they can be.Ms Saffin had some advice for the panic buying at supermarkets."I've been in the supermarkets, I've seen the shelves, and some of them are empty. I'm saying to people, just take enough. I always say, follow the 72 hour rule. That's a good rule. They use it in New Zealand, 72 hours. Make sure we've got enough for that 72 hours, and you'll have plenty, and there'll be plenty on the shelves for others, and also with fuel."Kevin Hogan wanted to remind the community of two things, "We know floods. So look, follow the warnings when they're given and leave early. You have your flood plans. You know where you are with metre predictions, leave your business or make your business safe early. And if you need to leave your residence, do it early, because the other element of this that we're not used to are going to be the cyclonic winds."It's going to get very wet, but also it's going to get very, very windy, and it's going to be extremely unsafe for everyone to be on the road network at that time, if not because of the water, but this time because of the winds and the damage that will be getting done. So it's going to be very unsafe for you. It's very unsafe for first responders to be out there to rescue people. So whatever you do, listen to the warnings and do it early."When the inevitable question came about the government moving quickly to offer support if Alfred does cause large community damage, Ms Saffin said she is having those conversations now."I'm just making sure that we're ready, and I put forward requests like, obviously, if we do get hit, of course, they'll want a natural disaster declaration, and we'll want that ASAP. So I'm involved in those conversations early."We may need other resources, depending on what happens if it crosses land. I know about the sandbags. I know what everybody's doing. I've asked how many boats are ready? We've got people operating them. So, in my role, I'm just doing everything I can because I say, better prepared, better recovery.Ms Saffin did say the NSWRA (Reconstruction Authority) is operating parallel to the combat agencies and are looking at what may be needed by the Northern Rivers community, including emergency accommodation."They're working together, preparing together, looking at what we might need, and instead of waiting till after the event, having that ready so they can ask. They're also organising the pod villages. Of course, we've still got people in our pod villages, so they've got organisation in place with the people there and getting them ready. They've got accommodation booked. I know Homes (Homes NSW) are doing that. There are evacuation centres being set up with DCJ (Department of Community and Justice)It was clarified that in Lismore, the evacuation centre will be at Southern Cross University as it was in 2022. Others are being organised today and set up tomorrow.One of the biggest complaints following the 2022 floods was the lack of communication. Ms Saffin did say the interagency communication was very strong and there is now a public information unit set up."We have to communicate well, all agencies, and I'll continue to drive that to make sure that people get the information they need. But for now, it's the SES, it's the police, it's our combat agencies, and they do a fantastic job at communication."As for advice to the community on how to get the best information, Commander Scott Tanner said, "We need the community to keep informed, and they need to take the information from the combat agencies, not from your friend down the street or someone on Facebook. It's got to be from people that are actually doing the business."The information can be read through the Bureau of Meteorology (via the Lismore App for ease of use Weather), or the BOM directly http://www.bom.gov.au/, the NSW SES https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au or download the Hazards Near Me app.
