Hardened by a history of floods, residents are ‘getting on’ with the clean-up while waiting for politicians to address climate change
Photograph: Christine TondorfPhotograph: Christine Tondorfismore vet Nick Jones can reel off the equipment he lost when his surgery was flooded with clinical precision – X-ray, X-ray processor, ultrasound, computers, telephone system, solar panel inverters – but when asked if he planned to reopen, he falters and his eyes seem to water. A second later his resolve is back, “Of course, there is no question of that.
Was he insured? “We were for 2017, but certainly not this time … it’s just not a proposition. Insurance, as it is, it’s just too expensive.”Jones estimates his business losses at between $150,000 to $250,000. The good news? No animals drowned, not even the two resident clinic cats. They were taken home by a veterinary nurse.
I have lived in the northern rivers for 15 years. For this story I asked more than a dozen people for an interview, and with every request I cautioned them against speaking if it would upset them. I do this because I live in this community“How can anything upset me after this?” laughs Ken Matheson, a Lismore resident aged 65 years who lost all his possessions on Sunday night.
Lismore post-flood has a smell that has elements of rotten fruit, lawn clippings, urine and mud. There’s about 10cm of slippery ground sludge that is as dark and thick as melted chocolate – but with that smell. In some parts of the town, the force of water has torn up pavers.
“Butchers have been donating sausages, rissoles, steaks – and egg and bacon for our food van to keep people fed,” he says.
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