New Zealand is sending six specialist personnel to support the emergency response in flood-ravaged New South Wales, where five people have died and tens of thousands remain isolated.
Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) confirmed that four community liaison officers and two jurisdiction liaison officers will depart in the next two days following a formal request from the NSW State Emergency Service.
The deployment comes as around 32,000 people on Australia’s mid-north coast continue to grapple with the fallout from days of devastating flooding.
FENZ’s Nick Pyatt said it was an honour to offer help across the Tasman.
“We are a country that values its role as a good global citizen,” he said.
“We are happy to offer our assistance to other countries, especially our neighbours in Australia, when they face natural disasters.”
Locals and emergency services were assessing more of the damage on Sunday following the deadly floods.
In Taree, Damian Newell and his family have returned to their home which now resembles a rubbish dump as their town continues to clean up.
Months worth of rain was dumped in a matter of days in some areas, with five people killed during the floods that followed.
Newell and his family evacuated their Taree home on Tuesday before the Manning River reached its highest level on record.
“Our front yard at the moment looks like a rubbish dump,” he told AAP.
Some sentimental items placed up high survived.
“All the mattresses and everything, that’s all gone.”
“Ridiculous” quotes for contents insurance at the rented home were too much.
“We ran the risk, it is what it is,” Newell said.
But support from the community has been almost overwhelming.
“I know there’s others out there that are worse off than us by miles.
“It’s a pretty big, costly clean-up for us all.
“We’ve just been cleaning up as best we can and trying to see what we can salvage.”
His immediate focus was on trying to restore some normality for his three children.
“They’re a bit devo that they’ve lost most of their toys and stuff like that.”
Almost 200 additional emergency service partners from Queensland, WA, Victoria, SA, Tasmania and the ACT have been deployed to the area to help the SES.
The additional resources will help the service continue to assess more than 10,000 properties for damage.
“So far, 480 damage assessments have been carried out, with building inundation seen in many locations, and many have sustained significant damage and are unhabitable,” SES Assistant Commissioner Allison Flaxman said.
The agency responded to more than 7200 incidents and conducted 774 flood rescues.
In the past 24 hours, there were 328 incidents reported to the SES including 16 flood rescues.
Affected residents are urged to remain vigilant and to not enter flood waters.
Premier Chris Minns visited Taree, promising the NSW government will help the community get back on its feet as soon as possible.
Hardship and disaster grants are planned to become available in the coming days and efforts to improve flood resilience in Taree and other communities will follow.
But previous attempts, while well intentioned, had not always delivered in areas hit by flooding.
“We’re determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, given we’re having more and more of these natural disasters,” Minns said.
Additional reporting by 1News.