Almost 80 per cent of flood victims denied ‘pathway to safety’

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Almost 80 per cent of flood victims in the Northern Rivers will miss out on a $700 million program set up last year to help them escape the disaster zone or make their homes safer.

Five people died and more than 4000 homes were deemed uninhabitable after record floods devastated the region in February and March 2022.

But the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation said on Tuesday only 1100 households will be offered a house buyback under the program – almost half the number flagged in February.

Flooding devastates Lismore in February 2022.Credit: Elise Derwin

Resilient Lismore co-ordinator and local councillor Elly Bird said the significant change in the numbers would send shockwaves through the community.

“The majority of homes that were flood-affected in February last year were inundated almost to their ceilings,” she said.

“The people in those homes would dearly love a pathway to safety. They’re not getting one today.”

So far, 6471 people have applied for a buyback, house-raise or retrofit through the Resilient Homes program, which is jointly funded by state and federal governments.

As well as the buybacks, about 340 households would also qualify for money to retrofit their houses or raise them.

Ballina Greens MP Tamara Smith said she was angry so many people in her electorate would not qualify for support, based on detailed flood mapping that was published on Tuesday.

“It’s desperately needed but it doesn’t match the expectations and it doesn’t match the need,” she said.

“You’ve got about 7000 people who are waiting to hear [if they qualify for the program], and nearly 5000 of them are going to get a letter by 30 June saying ‘No, you’ve got nothing’.

“Thousands and thousands of people will be devastated … they’ve been waiting for 15 months.

“I have no way of explaining the data. As far as I’m concerned, it’s poppycock.”

But Tweed Mayor Chris Cherry said it made sense to focus funding on high-priority buybacks.

“That’s the real place where you’re going to get wins – where you can get people out of the floodplains forever,” she said.

“It’s difficult for people who thought they would benefit from a retrofit or house-raising, but it makes sense to focus on buybacks because that’s where there is the risk to life.

“What it actually means is that people are being offered real money for their homes. They’re not being shortchanged from what I can see, and that’s a really important thing, to help people move out.”

Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon said the maps raised more questions than answers.

“I thought it’s really confusing and I don’t understand the timing. Why you would realise this now before you’ve told everyone their indicative eligibility.

“It would be very difficult for people who had water in their house to understand why they are ineligible.”

Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation chief executive David Witherdin said about 300 buyback offers had been made so far and 131 had been accepted. Two households rejected them.

He said the mapping would help every household understand its level of risk when it came to floods.

“We’ve got confidence in the quality of the data there,” he said. “It helps the community understand the relative hazards right across the Northern Rivers.”

Smith and Cherry both called for a second tranche of government funding to be made available, to extend the Resilient Homes program so it could support more households in the future.

“People can’t wait any longer,” Smith said. “Either it’s in this budget or kiss it goodbye.”

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