Tweed residents are encouraged to share their experiences of the recent flood through a special portal established by Council to ensure their voices are heard and their experiences noted for future advocacy work and learnings.
The people of the Tweed are no strangers to flood events but this current flood has broken records and affected our community like never before.
It is evident devastated communities in the Tweed will need extensive support to get back on their feet.
Mayor of Tweed Shire Chris Cherry said Council would continue to advocate on behalf of the community to State and Federal governments for funding support and seek improvements to flood response and recovery for future flood events.
“It is important for us to listen to the community’s experience of this record-breaking flood and to advocate to other levels of government on the community’s behalf,” Cr Cherry said.
“By listening to residents’ first-hand experiences, we can learn how all levels of government can further improve the flood response and keep our community as safe as possible in future floods.”
Affected Tweed residents are encouraged to visit yoursaytweed.com.au/share-your-flood-experience to share their stories and help Council understand their experience of this current flood event. The page will be open for contributions over coming weeks to allow plenty of time for those who do not yet have internet access to contribute.
In particular, Council wants to hear about:
Personal experiences of water level rises, immediate impacts, evacuations and rescues across the Tweed Shire.
How residents continue to be affected in the immediate aftermath including access to essential services, food, water, medical supplies, telecommunications, internet and evacuation centres.
The extent of damage to property, impacts on personal health and wellbeing.
Stories of local community heroes, community spirit and resilience.
Affected Tweed businesses are also urged to complete the Business Flood Impact Assessment survey at yoursaytweed.com.au/business-flood-impact-assessment.
“We are a strong and resilient community and we have a long tradition of coming together in times like these,” Cr Cherry said.
“I am sure these stories of the Tweed community’s personal experiences will help shine a light on just how strong our people really are.”
Tweed Regional Museum Curator Erika Taylor said the Museum would collect the stories and images describing local people’s flood experiences to help future generations understand what it was like to live through the phenomenal 2022 flood.
“The Museum’s collection includes records of all of the Tweed’s historic flood events including 1954, 1974 and 2017,” Ms Taylor said.
“The 2022 flood surpasses all previous records in many parts of the Tweed so it is important we record our community’s experience so future generations can learn about this historic moment in time.”
