The recovery process following the February 2022 flood has been slow, and many people are still struggling to regain normality in their lives.
The flood has had a significant impact on the physical and mental health of many teenagers, like myself. Natural disasters can cause trauma in children, which may occur in various ways, and take varying lengths of time to overcome.
The flood went to knee height in the second storey of my house, this caused me and my family to be without a working house for three months. For those months, we lived at various friend’s houses and my father’s work, and we would return to our house every day to work on it. I am forever grateful for all of the help and support we received from our community during the flood.
Based on my experience, I have witnessed people being misled by promised projects and grants that ended up being overlooked and downgraded. After the flood, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced a Resilient Homes project aimed at buying back, lifting, or repairing homes that have been damaged by floods. This project was initially promised $1.5 billion, but the Labor Party cut it down to $750 million. As a result, there is only enough money to fund 1,100 buy-backs, and 400 house raisings or renovations; this is not enough to fix all the damaged houses. This has caused a lot of disadvantages for those who were relying on them, leading to an increased recovery time.
After two years since the 2022 flood, only 11 per cent of the 5,001 applications for the Resilient Homes project in Tweed, Byron, and Lismore have been approved. This indicates that the project needs improvement, and applications should be approved faster. There is a need for more opportunities to help restore flood-affected homes, and actions should be taken to address the situation.
♦ Bella Clay is doing work experience at The Echo and is from Lismore Trinity College.
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