Flood waters in Lismore continue to rise, while the weather system responsible for a deluge of rain that has seen towns like Byron Bay inundated continues its march south, with tens of thousands of people being evacuated.
Police have identified a woman who went missing on Tuesday night as Anita Brakel, a 55-year-old aged care nurse from Nowra. They believe she became trapped in her car in flood waters in Lismore.
They are asking anyone who may have seen a 2017 white Holden Captiva station wagon, with NSW registration YHS 51F, in the Lismore area on Tuesday night to contact them.
Rainfall totals in excess of 400mm in 24 hours caused widespread flooding in the northern rivers region, with 16 evacuation orders current at 5pm Wednesday for areas including Lismore, Kyogle, Bellingen, Broadwater and Coraki.
The evacuation orders affect 28,000 people across the northern rivers and mid-north coast while the SES has conducted 55 rescues in the last 24 hours.
Major flood warnings are in place for the Wilsons, Richmond, Clarence and Orara and Bellingen rivers, with towns such as Grafton expected to face major flooding on Thursday. A severe weather warning is current for heavy rainfall and damaging winds from Grafton all the way to Forster, more than three hours away.
In Lismore, the Wilsons River passed 11.37 metres and was still rising, with NSW authorities expecting it to reach a peak of 12 metres overnight.
While it is substantially below the 14.4 metres seen in February, it will still be one of the highest peaks on record, NSW emergency services minister Steph Cooke said.
“To put this in perspective, the prior record for the Wilsons River was 12.17 metres,” Cooke told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
“If not for that peak just a month ago, this in and of itself would be a record flood for the city of Lismore and that area.”
Earlier, the city’s CBD was evacuated twice in 24 hours, leading to criticism after authorities cancelled an existing evacuation order on Tuesday afternoon, only to reverse the decision at 3am on Wednesday.
In central Byron Bay, businesses were inundated after about 300mm of rain fell in 24 hours.
Local mayor Michael Lyon described the scenes as “unprecedented”.
“The flash flooding in Byron and surrounds is incredible,” Lyon told 2GB on Wednesday morning.
“It’s devastating after what we’ve just been through a month ago. It’s hitting different parts of the shire.”
The rain also cut the Pacific Highway in both directions between Wardell and Tintenbar.
System tracks south
Shires farther south are also bracing for more rain, as residents around Coffs Harbour and the Bellinger River were also affected.
There is major flooding along the Bellinger River at Thora and Bellingen.
Along the coast, evacuation warnings are still in place for parts of Urunga CBD, Bellinger Keys and North Bellingen, Yellow Rock, North Macksville, North Bellingen, East Bellingen, Urunga, Newry Island, Lower Macleay and the Bellinger River Tourist Park.
Coffs Habour mayor, Paul Amos, said 56 people in the area were displaced and some communities, including Nana Glen, were cut off.
“Our detention basins seem to be working very well and that’s insulating Coffs Harbour against the worst,” Amos said.
Nana Glen resident Wan Carma said all of the main roads out of the village were flooded.
“I can’t go anywhere,” Carma said. “My house is not affected but I think if this rain continues for another 24 hours, a few houses [in the area] will be.”
Lismore hit for a second time
South Lismore residents Belinda Walker and her husband, Mick, waited on the outskirts of Lismore on Wednesday morning after evacuating for the second time in as many weeks.
The couple lost most of their belongings in the flooding last month and have since been camping underneath their house.
“The only reason we’ve opted to stay in our car instead of in our house is because it’s causing too much trauma for our children, one who was also in the floods,” Belinda Walker said.
“We’ve moved [our remaining possessions] all upstairs and we tried to put things wherever we could on nails up in the roof cavity. We want to save the little we have, but it’s really just a matter now of hoping and praying.
“We are all totally exhausted in every way shape and form, but I refuse to give up. It’s my home and I’m going to go back there.”
The Lismore state MP, Janelle Saffin, who had to swim out of her flooded property four weeks ago, questioned whether the evacuation order for Lismore’s CBD should have been lifted.
“There was certainly more preparation than there was a month ago and obviously there were a lot less people in the areas that needed evacuating,” Saffin said.
“People were concerned when the Lismore CBD evacuation order was lifted because there was still a lot of rain about in the region.”
Anastacia Gunn and her mother-in-law, Carol Evans, visited the digital gauge measuring the CBD river level in Lismore several times on Tuesday to examine the fast-flowing river for themselves, explaining they didn’t want to “just rely” on the Bureau of Meteorology.
Evans’s house was inundated on 28 February. She was only given a couple of hours to evacuate in the early hours of the morning.
“We look at how quickly the numbers are rising and also take into account information that’s coming in from Nimbin and Dunoon, from the locals there, who say what their rainfall’s been,” Gunn said.
“That feeds into us and then we know how fast and far it’s going to rise here, so we’re not just relying on what BoM says – it’s the local knowledge.”
The SES, Rural fire service, police and Australian defence force personnel were all on the ground in Lismore on Wednesday. Armoured troop carriers cruised the streets, SES boats had crews near the river and ADF helicopters were at Ballina’s airport.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, said there were 3,200 defence force personnel on the ground in Lismore working closely with the SES.
“We have the helicopters in place if rescues are required. They will be assisting in that respect,” he told the ABC.
“The SES will be doing their job on that as well, but Australians will help each other again in Lismore just like they did several weeks ago.”
Morrison said already hundreds of millions of dollars of support had been delivered to the area, including cash supports and recovery assistance, run by the state government.
Russell Scott, who has been running a free food stall at the Koori Mail’s flood recovery hub, said the volunteers had been fast to respond to the bad weather and pack away the hub.
“I can only tell you what went on in my small world here, but, within six hours, this place was emptied thanks to the support of the volunteers, thanks basically to the angels who just arrived,” he said.
