Disaster relief to assist three local government areas in the Riverina and Central West to recover from damaging storms and flooding on January 22 and February 5 has been welcomed by The Nationals Member for Riverina and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"It is a cruel irony that areas suffering from this insidious drought were hit by ferocious storms which did nothing to break the dry spell," Mr McCormack said.
Mr McCormack said assistance was being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Assistance is being provided to the Parkes Local Government Area hit by the January 22 storms and to the Cootamundra-Gundagai and Hilltops Local Government Areas affected by storms on February 5.
The storms caused temporary loss of power to thousands of homes and damaged roads, restricting access to essential supplies and services.
Financial support is now available to help affected individuals, small businesses, primary producers and councils to get back on their feet.
Storms were a regular occurrence throughout the warmer months in Harden and surrounds, on many occasions leaving paths of destruction in their wake.
Charlie Bragg from 'Landgrove', between Cullinga Road and Jugiong Road, estimates that during the February 5 storm, 150 - 200 mm fell in his worst affected areas.
Mr Bragg likened the storm event to a tornado.
"We lost stock, we lost fences, we lost trees." Mr Bragg said. "We have had storms through here before, but I have never seen devastation through to the trees like this one."
Hilltops SES Unit Controller and Harden resident Ros Bickford said volunteers in Young and Harden were tasked to more jobs in January and February than in the entire past three years.
"We saw an increase in jobs compared to past years across the entire Hilltops Local Government area. That was due to some really big storms. I think Harden was hit hardest and that was during February," Ms Bickford said.
More information on disaster assistance is available on the Australian Government's Disaster Assist website at disasterassist.gov.au and the NSW emergency information and response website at emergency.nsw.gov.au.