After record-breaking floods devastated parts of the New South Wales (NSW) Mid North Coast and Hunter regions, local business owner Matt Stone says the clean-up has been a daily battle, with his shop “totally ruined.”
The event in the Mid North Coast and Hunter regions left behind huge piles of rotting debris, with landfill sites created to manage the rubbish.
NSW Public Works said that about 1,000 livestock carcasses have been disposed of, and Kempsey Shire Council says about 11,000 cubic metres of waste had been removed from its CBD and surrounds.
While the Mid Coast Council estimates the greater Manning Valley has collected about 60,000 tonnes of waste.
Many businesses throughout the region face uphill battles to survive, including Stones Oysters and Shed Takeaway based at Harrington, near Taree.
“It’s been a bit of a fight just cleaning up, because our business was wiped out,” Stone told The Epoch Times, with his shop still weeks away from reopening.
“We’re cleaning up every day, getting the shop back up and running. Everything is totally ruined in there.
“But a lot of people are going through the same thing. We’re not the only ones. A lot of people lost their houses, which is probably 100 times worse than our business, because they haven’t got a home to go to.”
Stone and his brother Anthony helped rescue a number of people from their homes on their boats.
He was overwhelmed by the way his community supported each other following such a destructive weather event.
“We were going house to house. We didn’t keep count [of people we saved]. My brother was in one boat. I was in a boat,” he said.
“The community support is wonderful, to be honest with you. We’ve had people come up and help us, and clean out our shed.”
Rescue Mission Severely ‘Under-Prepared’
Stone believes the rescue mission was severely hampered by a lack of local, state, and federal funding, and a shortage of trained emergency personnel.A total of five people were killed during the flooding, with Taree, Kempsey, Nambucca Heads, Sawtell, Dorrigo, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour all among the towns affected.
“By the time they sent up the ADF [Australian Defence Force] here, a lot of the big [rescue mission] stuff was already done,” he said.
“I’m not knocking them for coming to help; that’s good. But they could’ve been up here straight away helping to clean up our mess.”
Stone said it was critical the Albanese Labor government started looking at better disaster emergency plans.
“I guess [the emergency crew] are under-resourced as well. But they also don’t have the training or abilities for a bigger event like the one that happened,” he said.
“And the knowledge of certain things. That’s probably where they lack a little bit as well.”
Government Assistance
The Albanese and Minns Labor governments announced a joint $25,000 grant for eligible small businesses (with fewer than 20 employees) and non-profit organisations to help clean up and restore their businesses.That grant is also available for eligible primary producers directly impacted.
But Stone said that kind of temporary financial relief would not amount to much for a business.
“It’ll be lucky if that pays the wages for all my blokes,” he said.
“Our shop was a total wipeout. We’re up to a $30,000 repair bill just for our shop to buy new equipment.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this flood rescue package was about helping businesses recover “with dignity.”
“This is a clear example of the Australian and NSW governments working together to deliver real help on the ground where it’s needed most,” he said.
“Whether it’s helping families get back into safe housing, or supporting local businesses and farmers to clean up and keep going, we’re standing with communities every step of the way.”
Minns said the grant would help small business owners and farmers “get back on their feet.”
