Lismore residents ordered to evacuate again as levee overtops and flash floods sweep through Byron Bay
Residents of the flood-hit city of Lismore have once again been ordered to evacuate, while Byron Bay has suffered ‘“unprecedented” flash flooding as the northern rivers continues to be battered with heavy rain.
For the second time in 24 hours, the Lismore CBD area was evacuated overnight. At around 9am Wednesday, the SES urged residents to leave immediately as the overtopping of the Lismore levee was imminent.
In a flood warning issued at 7.47am, the weather bureau said major flooding was likely along the Wilsons River at Lismore, with predictions flood waters may peak at 11 metres, enough to overtop the town’s levee but still substantially below the 14.4-metre record set in February.
Meanwhile, central streets in Byron Bay have been affected by flash flooding, with Mayor Michael Lyon describing the scenes as “unprecedented”.
There were eight evacuation orders current in northern NSW at 9.30am Wednesday, including for low-lying areas of Bellingen, Macksville, Kyogle, Coraki and Tumbulgum.
Lyon said the situation in Byron shire was serious despite the absence of evacuation orders.
“The flash flooding in Byron and surrounds is incredible,” he told 2GB on Wednesday morning.
“It’s devastating after what we’ve just been through a month ago. It’s hitting different parts of the shire.”
The Pacific Highway has been cut between Wardell and Tintenbar, while the local MP, Justine Elliot, called for evacuation centres to be set up in Byron Bay and Ballina.
The New South Wales SES issued an evacuation order for the Lismore central business district at 3am Wednesday – its second in 24 hours – after earlier cancelling a similar order late on Tuesday afternoon as flood waters failed to reach the level feared.
But relentless rain over Tuesday night saw the situation escalate. The bureau said 279mm of rain had fallen at Lismore from 9am Tuesday to 6am Wednesday. In the town of Alstonville, 370mm had fallen.
Local state MP Janelle Saffin, who had to swim out of her flooded property four weeks ago, questioned whether the evacuation order for Lismore’s CBD should have been lifted.
“There was certainly more preparation than there was a month ago and obviously there were a lot less people in the areas that needed evacuating,” Saffin said.
“People were concerned when the Lismore CBD evacuation order was lifted because there was still a lot of rain about in the region.”
Anastacia Gunn and her motherin-law, Carol Evans, visited the digital gauge measuring the CBD river level in Lismore several times on Tuesday to examine the fast-flowing river for themselves, explaining they didn’t want to “just rely” on the Bureau of Meteorology.
Evans’ house was inundated on 28 February. She was only given a couple of hours to evacuate in the early hours of the morning.
“We look at how quickly the numbers are rising and also take into account information that’s coming in from Nimbin and Dunoon, from the locals there, who say what their rainfall’s been,” Gunn said.
“That feeds into us and then we know how fast and far it’s going to rise here, so we’re not just relying on what BoM says – it’s the local knowledge.”
The SES, Rural fire service, police, and defence force are all on the ground in Lismore. Armoured troop carriers cruise the streets, SES boats have crews near the river and ADF choppers are at Ballina’s airport.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there are 3200 defence force personnel on the ground in Lismore working closely with the SES.
“We have the helicopters in place if
rescues are required, they will be assisting in that respect” he told ABC TV.
“The SES will be doing their job on that as well, but Australians will help each other again in Lismore just like they did several weeks ago.”
Mr Morrison said already hundreds of millions of dollars of support had been delivered to the area, including cash supports and recovery assistance, run by the state government.
A Lismore roof tiler, Leonard Gray, spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning helping business owners move stock out of their shops.
“Everyone panicked yesterday afternoon and we helped them move out, people weren’t taking any second chances because they’d cleaned things out and had started putting stuff back in,” he said.
Evans, whose house was submerged totally submerged to the roof last month, says their presence helps reassure people.
“I’m staying positive, but a lot of people are suffering mentally,” she said.
Russell Scott, who has been running a free food stall at the Koori Mail’s flood recovery hub, said the volunteers had been fast to respond to the bad weather and pack away the hub.
“I can only tell you what went on in my small world here, but, within six hours, this place was emptied thanks to the support of the volunteers, thanks basically to the angels who just arrived,” he said.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
“It was amazing to see it all packed up. There was no fighting, no squabbling, everybody just worked together and did everything for the good of the people.”
Jan Praetz, who lives in the centre of Mullumbimby, could not sleep on Monday night as heavy rain lashed her roof.
“I was so paranoid … everyone’s on edge and … my anxiety level was off the scale with all that wind and rain and not knowing if it’s going to happen again,” she said.
Praetz hadn’t seen a flood in the main street or had water in her house for 50 years, until four weeks ago.
“It certainly makes you question whether you should stay here or whether you should put your house up higher,” Praetz said. “I don’t feel safe and comfortable like I did.”