Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg and his wife Julianne lost their home and two businesses during devastating floods that tore through the Northern Rivers region in February.
The possessions of Richmond Valley Mayor Robert Mustow's late wife were all damaged or destroyed.
And, Lismore MP Janelle Saffin's husband clung to a verandah post for hours in neck-high water before being rescued.
Here are their stories.
Mayor learns home's fate from TV
Steve Krieg has painstakingly rebuilt his family home and two businesses after losing everything in the February and March floods which tore through Lismore.
The disaster struck just two months after Cr Krieg was elected mayor of the city, leaving him — and thousands of others — homeless.
He says leading the community while simultaneously trying to support his own family has, at times, felt crippling.
"If I was to be totally honest, I probably internally haven't coped as well as I would have liked because in the early days you are living on adrenaline," Cr Krieg says.
The mayor was thrust into the international media spotlight, becoming the face of the Lismore disaster.
He only learnt the extent of the damage to his home during a live television interview.
"I did a live cross to a show and they had a cameraman in a boat cruising down Keen Street, and I remember thinking, 'Don't take the camera off, my business and home are only 100m away'," he says.
Knowing the true depth of the community's trauma, the mayor has tried to keep Lismore in the media spotlight so that no-one will forget the massive task of rebuilding ahead.
But it's only recently that the reality of his situation has dawned on him, after attending the reopening of another local business.
"I was a blubbering mess," Cr Krieg says.
"I hadn't spent one day in my own home and my own business.
"I felt like an absolute failure as a husband and as a father that here we are — at that time four-and-a-half-months on — and I hadn't made any effort personally to get my family back into their own home and to get my staff back to work in our business."
'I thought my husband was dead'
Lismore MP Janelle Saffin has been dealing with flood disasters since moving to the region 55 years ago.
Her two-storey home sits high on the banks of the Wilson River, just five minutes outside Lismore.
Until this year, that fact has never worried her.
But in the early hours of February 28, it became clear the disaster engulfing the town was no ordinary flood.
Ms Saffin was forced to swim for her life through raging floodwaters.
Not far away, her husband Dr Jim Gallagher was at home, in an even more dire situation.
He was trapped with the couple's beloved dog, as water rapidly rose to the roof of their home.
"It just kept coming up, it was raging," Dr Gallagher says.
Hussy Hicks band member Julz Parker risked her life to save Dr Gallagher, holding him up on a pole for hours until help arrived.
Ms Saffin feared the worst.
"I thought Jim was dead because I'd had the last call with him and I'd also had a call with Julz from next door, so I thought he'd be dead," she says.
But with so many people in the same situation, she was forced to focus on helping the community.
"I couldn't think about me, I couldn't think about Jim, I couldn't think about here or anything, I just thought I've got a responsibility to act for the community so I just went into gear," she says.
Miraculously, a boat appeared and rescued Dr Gallagher.
But he had to leave their beloved pet Zara behind, knowing she was going to drown.
Weight of leadership hangs heavy
What makes Robert Mustow's journey even harder is that 2022 is not the first time he's had to lead his community through tough times.
But it is the first time he's personally been affected.
The Richmond Valley region has suffered through eight natural disaster declarations in the last three years.
In the February floods, Cr Mustow lost his home and the house he was renovating for his retirement.
"It's not only the house, it's all your belongings that you've acquired over the years — like my mother's stuff and friends' and my wife's, who died when she was 39," he says.
Cr Mustow says he doesn't like to talk too much about his personal situation because so many people are having to rebuild their lives as well.
"I know the frustrations that our community is feeling because I've been on the journey with them, and I've been frustrated and angry sometimes like they are and I get it," he says.
Cr Mustow says it's important that a community has a strong leader through dark times, and he uses that sense of responsibility to keep going.
"It's your job as a mayor and you are there to represent your community and do the best that you can for them," he says.
