Disaster assistance has been made available for NSW North Coast communities in response to severe storms which caused localised flooding and widespread damage in February.
Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud said that the heavy rainfall from this event caused major disruption to the community and threatened life and property.
“This was a serious disaster event and the funding will go towards the critical restoration and repairs for damaged roads, businesses and residential properties,” Minister Littleproud said.
“Financial assistance is available for Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Kyogle, Lismore, Nambucca Valley, Port Macquarie-Hastings and Richmond Valley to support their recovery.”
New South Wales Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said communities experienced significant losses and disruption due to flash flooding and severe weather.
“The storms caused widespread damage resulting in road and school closures, flooding of properties and disruption to rail freight services due to a derailment,” Minister Elliott said.
“The assistance being announced today will help cover the costs associated with the operational response and repairing damaged homes and essential public assets, such as roads.”
Assistance available under the DRFA may include:
- help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged
- support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets
- concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations
- freight subsidies for primary producers, and
- grants to eligible non-profit organisations.
For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact Service NSW on 13 77 88. To apply for a concessional loan or grant, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit
NSW Rural Assistance Authority website.
Further information on disaster assistance is available on the Australian Government’s
Disaster Assist website and the
NSW emergency information and response website.
