Flood

Southern Downs residents can expect more activity on the road network and additional construction crews being deployed across the region to undertake flood repairs, with final approvals for last year’s flood event now secured.

The push for more funding for the flood ravaged Northern Rivers region has been taken up by Member for Clarence, Richie Williamson, who questioned the Minns NSW Government on the massive reduction in buybacks offered and Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, who launched a petition to fully fund the Resilient Homes Program as promised ... On Saturday Woodburn locals lined the bridge armed with signs, a town which felt the full brunt of the catastrophic flood, that still feels unheard as they struggle to rebuild.

Nearby resident Len Patterson with his dog Smokey check out the repaired Kital Road Bridge. The Bridge was badly damaged following the flooding in Dalrymple Creek early 2022 and has been impassable for the past 15 months.

The boxing club tucked away in a Woodburn laneway was flooded last year ... The Woodburn Amateur Boxing Club has been going since 1989 and a recent grant of $5000 from Richmond Valley Council has meant the club could replace the punching bags, boxing gloves and focus mitts.

The Kerang Memorial Hall was a flurry of activity at Tuesday’s VNI West Information Sessions ... From landholder engagement to environmental concerns, aboriginal cultural heritage, and even local, George Warne, was there as Transmission Company Victoria’s (TCV) agricultural advisor.

A project led by locals aims to raise $50million to help flooded communities. The project was born out of the frustration over the lack of funding to rebuild homes after the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation released flood maps that showed priority areas that excluded most of the damaged homes.

The gathered people were angry, frustrated and sad. Many took the mic and spoke and for some it was clearly uncomfortable to bare their sorrow as they shook and their voices broke ... Henry Luong told people to “use your rage and make it your power”.

Information that is relevant, accessible and trusted is critical to those farmers seeking to adapt their agricultural businesses to changes in climate according to a study which examined the results of surveys taken by the North East Catchment Management Authority (CMA) while working with approximately 1800 land managers in the region during the past four years ... A significant majority of the land managers surveyed (88%) believed the local climate and weather patterns in north east Victoria had changed.

While communities continue to recover from the 2022 flood event, residents are concerned that at least 30 levee breaches on the lower Loddon remain unrepaired. Emergency services have already been called to respond to a flood risk this month when a recent rise in the Murray River threatened to spill from a levee bank breach in the Benjeroop area.

Thousands of Northern Rivers residents have been waiting anxiously for 16 months to see whether or not they would receive assistance via home buy-backs, retrofitting or house raising. This week, hundreds are being told they will receive no help from Government ...Members of A Way Forward are calling on the NSW and Federal Governments to urgently provide additional funding to the NRRC to extend their Resilient Homes program.

New flood risk mapping released by the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Commission (NRRC) which has seen the number of homes eligible for buyback halved has been slammed by the Nationals as calls come for the second tranche of funding to be released. NRRC Chief Executive David Witherdin said the new mapping will inform the Commonwealth and  State Government’s co-funded $700 million program and be used to prioritise home buybacks,  raisings and retrofits.

The NSW Government has declared the Northern Rivers a formal reconstruction area to help support the building of homes after last year’s devastating floods. Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the declaration allows the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) to make prompt decisions to influence reconstruction and aligns with the election commitment to accelerate the approval of new housing...

A suite of new planning rules designed to protect River Murray regions from future flood events and assist with a strong recovery and rebuild are coming into effect this week. To fast-track the region’s recovery the interim changes will come into immediate effect from Thursday, providing a quicker building approval process for the influx of applications expected.

Community engagement is once again in the spotlight after the North Central CMA (NCCMA), the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) pulled out of a meeting with the Central Murray Environmental Floodplain Group (CMEFG) held in Cohuna on Monday, June 19.  The meeting was being held to discuss concerns with the current reporting, management and environmental watering events, such as delivery of environmental water that commenced on June 8 in the Gunbower Forest.

In the face of already numerous adversities, the Northern Rivers of NSW is grappling with yet another concern: food security. Floods, bushfires, and the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic have exposed vulnerabilities in the region’s food system but also presented an opportunity to re-think how food is grown, distributed and consumed.

Four MPs and seven mayors have sent a letter to the Premier Chris Minns. They are asking the State Government not to forget the Northern Rivers and to deliver the next part of the flood recovery funding for the Resilient Homes program.

Federal MP Kevin Hogan isn’t holding back in his criticism of the State Government halving the number of buybacks of Northern Rivers flooded homes. The decision to drastically cut the Northern Rivers homes buybacks was made even worse by an announcement that the Federal Government would be boosting buybacks in Queensland by an additional 300 homes, Mr Hogan said.

For the third consecutive year, South Australian River Murray irrigators will start the 2023-24 financial year with 100 per cent of their water allocation. The floods have contributed to high River Murray system storages, with the major dams at 90  per cent capacity - 26  per cent above the long-term average for the end of June.

“Having grown up on stations which I loved very much, stations and farms have and always will be close to my heart. Rural Aid is an organisation that ‘stands with our mates in the bush’ during their hard times, and it does get tough in the bush, with floods, fires and severe drought, in addition to the usual dangers of snakes, spiders and in some northern areas, crocodiles too,” Mrs Rinehart said.