‘There’s a cracking’: residents are broken in Lismore after the NSW town is flooded again

A Lismore man on Tuesday night. Many residents had nothing left to lose after the record floods four weeks ago. Photograph: Brendan Beirne/Rex/Shutterstock

With a relentless storm circling the region bringing shrieking winds and the sky low and grey, the mood in Lismore on Wednesday was “bleak”, says the former mayor Jenny Dowell. The night before had been terrifying.

“I never want to go through that again,” says Ellen Kronen, the president of the local chamber of commerce. “I can be pretty robust and don’t scare easily but the wind was intense, the rain was intense, it was loud. I have never been in a storm like it. I was a bit shaky when I woke up.”