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The NSW Premier has promised to “rebuild” Eugowra after an angry resident confronted him over the state’s emergency response to the flood disaster.
Premier Dominic Perrottet and his team are touring the flood-ravaged town today, where 80 per cent of homes and businesses have been damaged.
Eugowra resident Peter Jones watched his family and friends get rescued after being swept away in the “wall of water” which hit the town.
Jones confronted Perrottet about what he says was a lack of warning, lack of emergency response and lack of telecommunications available when the town was hit by floodwaters.
There was a long period when residents couldn’t contact police and coordinate where help was needed, he said.
“We had no food, no clothing, no one telling them what was going to happen next because no one was here,” Jones told the premier.
“What’s your answer to some of them before I keep going?
“That’s not good enough.”
Incredible aerial images show extent of Condobolin flooding
Perrottet replied by telling Jones “whatever we can do to make sure that is fixed, we’ll do that”.
The town of 700 people has been completely wiped out, with the premier and his team today assessing things like demountable cities, temporary locations and residencies for the people to live.
Shortly after at a press conference, Perrottet told journalists the government would help to rebuild communities and ensure they “come back stronger than ever”.
“We’ll get the clean-up done, we’ll start the rebuild, we’ll get the homes back, and the community will be back stronger than ever,” Perrottet said.
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He said there were no plans to move the town to another location as it was a “freak event”.
“We are going to rebuild and rebuild in a very strong way… no one is going anywhere, everyone is coming home,” he said.
The government announced rural grants up to $75,000 for larger land holders and grants up to $100,00 for smaller land holders.
In an effort to rebuild roads surrounding Eugowra, $15 million is being offered to fast track funds for crews to rebuild the infrastructure needed to access the town.
Emergency services minister Steph Cooke said the grants would allow the families who have smaller farms and properties to get on with the initial clean-up and rebuild.
“Whether it’s fencing, restoring their driveways or other repairs on farm, that money is now available to them as well,” Cooke said.
She said there were 70 local government areas in a natural disaster across NSW.
“We have moved from the response phase into recovery as soon as the roads were accessible… from Monday, we’re currently setting up the recovery access centre here at the showground.”
It comes as the New South Wales town of Condobolin is facing its worst flood on record as floodwater flows down the Lachlan River from Forbes.
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has issued a prepare to evacuation orders for Bedgerabong, Darlington Point and Tilpa as well as several “watch and act” warnings for towns in the Central West.
Currently, there are 109 warnings in place across the state.
Receding floodwaters in Forbes are beginning to reveal the extent of the massive clean-up effort that the town is about to endure.
