Taree business owners ramp up recovery efforts
Sabra Lane: 70 Australian Defence Force personnel will be deployed throughout flood affected areas in New South Wales today to help with the massive clean up. The Prime Minister will also fly into the area to see the damage. In Taree, many business owners are still without power and emotions are very raw after last week's disaster. Alison Xiao reports from Taree.
Alison Xiao : In the centre of Taree, Lauren Telfer's flower boutique and cafe is back to being a work site.
Loren Telfer: You can hear in the background the work that's going on now as well, so we're currently in the rebuild phase. But yeah, walking into the shop there's just stuff everywhere.
Alison Xiao : Not only was her business destroyed, her home in Old Bar was also flooded.
Donna Ballard : It's been an emotional week, a lot of hard work and worry.
Alison Xiao : The town of Taree sits about 250km north of Sydney on the state's mid-north coast and was one of the hardest hit areas in last week's floods. Right on the banks of the Manning River is a student learning hub called Taree University's Campus where Donna Ballard is the CEO.
Donna Ballard : Yeah, it was a bit overwhelming when you first come in and looking across at the homes that we normally see, they've all been wiped out and our whole view has changed. The river's changed its look. We've lost a lot. We only moved in here in March last year, so all of our stuff was beautiful new furniture. But yeah, all of that stuff's out on the street.
Alison Xiao : Working in the dark, she and her colleagues have been clearing out the debris. Now Donna Ballard says she's facing the mammoth task of figuring out how to pay for the recovery costs.
Donna Ballard : You know, everyone's like, take photos, you'll have your insurance to prove your photos, all that, but we don't have any insurance. They won't insure you. It's not even that you can't afford it, it's just they won't even quote. So that's a real problem.
Alison Xiao : There's been anger this week that more help hasn't been offered to locals picking up the pieces themselves. Alexander Currie works at Heritage Real Estate, which was only newly renovated nine months ago.
Alexander Currie : And it was just a lack of compassion to start with. This street yesterday afternoon was full of rubbish. Now I think the Prime Minister's coming, he's going to come along and look at it and go, yeah, it doesn't look too bad. That's because everyone here has worked so hard during that time. I'm not going to be rude to them, but I don't think we've had the support that the town needs.
Alison Xiao : 70 Australian Defence personnel are also due to hit the ground today. But an army of a different kind is already part of the effort. Sandy Hogg and her colleagues from the Salvation Army will be at the Taree Disaster Recovery Centre, which opens today.
Sandy Hogg : It'll be sitting with people and listening and helping to distribute the grants from the government.
Alison Xiao : Across the state, five recovery centres are opening this week to help flood-affected residents and business owners with replacing ID and personal documents, as well as providing legal assistance and insurance support. Sandy Hogg says many people are leaning on charities like hers through this difficult time.
Sandy Hogg : People are just traumatised and some of them have been through it before and to be back here again, it's just unbelievable. It's really heartbreaking, people, animals, children, bunking down together and just supporting one another.
Sabra Lane: The Salvation Army's Sandy Hogg ending that report from Alison Xiao.
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