SES says lessons learnt in 2022 Lismore floods helping Mid North Coast torrential rainfall response
As severe weather inundates the Mid North Coast and Hunter region, emergency services say lessons have been both learned and applied since the last major floods along the NSW coastline.
A person has died, and three others are missing, as torrential falls are expected to continue across the catchment, with the potential for a fourth consecutive day of totals above 100 millimetres.
More than 1,000 volunteers, first responders, and members of the defence force are helping to rescue civilians and are attending to damage in the northern region of the state.
Follow our live coverage of the NSW floods
As of midday Thursday, there are nearly 150 warnings in place and 50,000 people in areas where they should prepare to evacuate.
According to a forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) just before midday, it is likely to rain for several more hours, but the rainfall accumulations are expected to slow down before "winding back" on Friday.
"Much of the wettest areas in the north-east of the state will see the worst rain today, much dryer from tomorrow," senior meteorologist Angus Hines said.
The Northern Rivers area was subject to the Lismore flood disaster of "bliblical proprotions" in February 2022, resulting in deaths and billions of dollars' worth of damage.
It resulted in an independent expert inquiry commissioned by the state government and a report on impact and recovery from Lismore City Council.
Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib acknowledged the learnings over the years.
He said on Thursday morning that there was the "potential for other incidents" off the back of the recovery from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and storms in March.
In this incident, Mr Dib said as soon as emergency services knew about the weather event, there was a "pre-deployment of assets and planning" more than a week before the rain band hit.
"The other element that we need to also highlight is communication," Mr Dib said.
Warning systems and the Hazard Near Me app issued a series of warnings instead of going "straight to an Evacuate" to keep people in the loop with notice.
"Generally, what you would find is a watch and act, then a prepare to evacuate, then an evacuate, then move to higher ground.
Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison agreed there had been an "improvement" in coordination between services in the last three years.
This has mostly been seen with how data is handled, which has gone from "whiteboards and butchers paper" to "incredible" systems.
"[The] computer systems that can take in 600 data points and models using information from the Bureau of Meteorology and all the other agencies," she said.
Ms Aitchison said the community was "lucky" that this event and the recent ex-Cyclone Alfred had unfolded slower this time around.
"I think the key message for people to understand about this event is that we are in a very saturated ground situation with high river heights and unpredictable rainfall," she said.
"My heart goes out to everyone who has been displaced."
SES zone commander for the northern region, Andrew Cribb, said that this time around, new arrangements for life-threatening rescues had also kicked in.
"Watching the prioritisation of those rescues is a classic example of some of the implementation of policy that was driven out of Lismore," the chief superintendent said.
"The availability of some of the infrastructure [and] high-clearance vehicles has been a game changer and something that is really working well for the community."
Chief Superintendent Cribb said the Hunter region, "unfortunately ... low on the flood plane", was experiencing flooding in the "usual areas".
"Those communities are very resilient in the way they approach things," he said.
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