It’s taken me three months to post this blog.
On the 28th of February 2022, where I grew up and live, experienced the worst flooding in recorded history with a peak river height of 14.6 meters.
A few days before, the area experienced relatively minor flooding, leaving the river systems fully charged with water, before intense and prolonged rainfall (the village of Dunoon received 775mm of rain in a 24hr period) caused the catastrophic flooding that occurred downstream and immense landslides and damage upstream.
I was in Bexhill on the 28th of February and made it in to Lismore to see and help my family and friends the following day.
Most local people have been incredibly disheartened and let down by a lack of help and assistance from almost all government agencies. Community strength and help was overwhelmingly positive and affirming of why I love the place I am from.
At the time of posting this, there are still some 1300 families living in temporary accomodation, countless businesses unable to open and an insurance bill set to top $4 billion.
In the middle of all of this I had to work just north of Brisbane. Northern NSW had no fuel, so my car was filled with jerry cans of petrol and diesel to be delivered back when I returned.
I had to pick up and drop off two passengers on my trip. One in Murwillumbah and one in Mullumbimby. I hadn’t left Bexhill or Lismore at this stage, and what struck me was the staggering scale of the destruction. No matter where I drove, from Murwillumbah to Woodburn, all low lying areas in that 100km stretch looked exactly the same as Lismore. All I remember thinking was “how will everyone recover?”, knowing the reality was a lot of people never would.
During the flooding, near the peak, I photographed around Bexhill. Once water receded considerably and I was able to safely get to Lismore, I spent the days cleaning and helping where I could, and in the afternoons I walked around and took photographs of what I saw. Part of me didn’t want to photograph, I didn’t like the idea of “disaster porn” and I think that’s why I didn’t develop this film for a while. These are some of the photographs I took during the week after the flood, and looking back at them now, I feel like they’re worthy of sharing and helping to show that for so many people, families and businesses, recovering from all of this is very far from over.
Looking towards Corndale. Bexhill, 28th Feb, 2022.
Newly built homes, submerged in Janice Ct. Bexhill, 28th Feb, 2022.
Withers St. Bexhill, 28th Feb, 2022.
Coleman St. Bexhill, 28th Feb, 2022.
Coleman St. Bexhill, 28th Feb, 2022.
Coleman St. Bexhill, 28th Feb, 2022.
Second Ave, East Lismore. 1st March, 2022
Spring St, East Lismore. 1st March, 2022.
Looking west down Ballina Road, East Lismore. 1st March, 2022.
Second Ave, East Lismore. 1st March, 2022.
Second Ave, East Lismore. 1st March, 2022.
Casino Street, South Lismore. 2nd March, 2022.
Casino Street, South Lismore. 2nd March, 2022.
Resilience. Casino Street, South Lismore. 2nd March, 2022.
Casino Street, South Lismore. 2nd March, 2022.
Casino Street, South Lismore. 2nd March, 2022. This house was completely submerged.
Carrington Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022. The second floor was inundated with water.
Carrington Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022. Street signs and plants were pushed over by strong current.
Carrington Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Keen Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Corner of Magellan and Keen Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022. The water destroyed this wall and lifted away the footpath in front of this watchmakers shop.
Keen Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Magellan Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Newbridge Street, South Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Motor vehicles moved by rising water from nearby Leycester Creek. South Lismore Bowling Club, South Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
South Lismore Bowling Club, South Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
South Lismore Bowling Club, South Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
South Lismore Bowling Club, South Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Union Street Bridge, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Union Street Bridge, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Bridge Street, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
Terrace Bar, Lismore. 3rd March, 2022.
“Lucky Country Leisure Park”, Lismore. 4th of March, 2022. This caravan was floated over powerlines and landed on top of a shipping container.
A table holding on to a power pole. Brunswick Street, Lismore. 5th of March, 2022.
Brewster Street, Lismore. 5th of March, 2022.
Shipping containers moved by flood water. Union Street, South Lismore. 5th of March, 2022.
A canoe on the awning of the Northern Rivers Hotel. Terania Street, North Lismore. 5th of March, 2022.
A house in distress. Bridge Street, North Lismore. 5th of March, 2022.
Debris caught in the tops of trees. Hollingsworth Creek Bridge, South Lismore. 6th of March, 2022.
An outdoors set and debris caught in a tree. Parkes Street, Girards Hill. 6th of March, 2022.
Santa’s sleigh. A Christmas display which was in storage, caught in a tree. Parkes Street, Girards Hill. 6th of March, 2022.
Parkes Street, Girards Hill. 6th of March, 2022.
Larkin Lane, Lismore. 7th of March, 2022.
Larkin Lane, Lismore. 7th of March, 2022.
Lismore City Library, Lismore. 7th of March, 2022.