Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
Premier Dominic Perrottet today flew over the flooded farms surrounding Moree and vowed to do all he could to ease the pain of the community.
“I know the pain of the community,” he said after his helicopter landed at Moree airport. “I felt that pain and I want to get every single person the support that we can.”
Mr Perrottet flew over the flooded farms with Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke and local MP Adam Marshall who vowed to stay on and contest the seat in the next election. r Perrottet said he had “worked very closely with the Commonwealth Government” to finalise an assistance package for flood affected areas and “will be announcing it shortly”.
Mr Perrottet said around 300 properties have been affected and around 4000 people so the flooding “is extensive”.
He said flood victims were being helped by a team effort of volunteers on the ground including the SES, Rural Fire Service and Surf Lifesaving.
“Now whilst they’re tired, their spirits are high. And to me that’s incredibly pleasing,” he said while refuting any suggestion that they were under-resourced.
The floodwaters in Moree began to recede with agonising slowness today to reveal a town covered in mud.
“I am gutted,” Moree mayor Mark Johnson said standing on the burst banks of the Mehi River. “You just don’t like to see your town torn to bits.”
The river reached a peak of 10.5 metres, just below the record of 1955, to flood the town and surrounding farmland for the second time in a year.
“I know most of the people that are impacted and I cannot do anything about it,” Mr Johnson said. “I just want to try and fix it and I can’t.”
The floodwaters left more than 300 homes and businesses under water with another 1000 impacted. Around 70 people had to stay in emergency accommodation set up in the Moree PCYC.
In the car park there the Animal Welfare League had set up their B-Double emergency trailer to take care of animals and pets that had been left homeless by the floods.
Veterinary nurse Sandy Abrahams was taking care of nine dogs, two quail and eight Silkie chickens.
“The owner of the chickens said she got back to her house and there were just bodies floating everywhere,” Ms Abrahams said. “So she bundled those that were left in a box and brought them here.”
She said the dog owners had nowhere to keep their pets and did not want them walking in dirty water. The animals included a dachshund who “is not going to get very far in a flood.” But the real impact is being felt on the farms outside of town where farmers were just weeks from bringing in a bumper harvest. Farmers estimate the cost of the flooding could easily exceed $150 million. SW Farmers Grains Committee chairman Justin Everitt said more than 120,000 hectares of wheat had been lost. The lost revenue came on top of the $42 million they had spent to plant the crop in the first place.
“Farmers know they’re taking a bit of a gamble when they’re planting a crop, but this ongoing wet weather with flood after flood after flood is just unbelievable,” Mr Everitt said.
Even the farmers whose fields have not been flooded are unable to harvest their crops because most of the roads have been washed away and trucks and harvesting equipment cannot get in.
