Good morning. Strong winds are expected to cause more chaos in New South Wales today as the flooding crisis continues to affect Australia’s east coast. Tens of thousands of residents across Sydney have been forced from their homes after the floods unleashed carnage and claimed the lives of a mother and son.
Farther north, permanent residents in caravan parks have been devastated by flood water, and with many unable to afford insurance against increasingly common inundations, they have no option but to stay and rebuild. “We just get ourselves up, shake ourselves off, and start all over again,” said resident Heather Emmett. State and federal MPs from both sides of politics have called for the planned commonwealth cyclone reinsurance scheme to be expanded to cover floods and fires. Now the clean-up has begun for many flood-affected communities, fears are being raised about the impact of the mountains of waste, with questions over a NSW government plan to store the rotting mounds at a quarry.
