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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is visiting the flood-ravaged communities in Taree, but residents say the promised government assistance falls far short of what’s needed to confront the scale of the disaster.
For over a century, the Andrews family have lived in a house on farmland in Taree on the NSW mid-north coast.
Now, it’s the scene of unimaginable destruction.
A densely packed wall of debris — several metres high — surrounds the back of the home.

Trees, tangled metal, broken fences, farm equipment, and power lines are wrapped around all the structures in the area — washed up by raging floodwaters that ripped through the area last week.

An older man wearing a red jumper and faded red sports cap. An SBS branded mic in front of him. He looks sad and exhausted. An expanse of debris stretches out behind him.

Ian Andrews said he’s heartbroken to see his childhood home destroyed. Source: SBS News

Ian Andrews has lived in the family home for over 80 years and said they’re in desperate need of assistance to clear the debris.

“It’s heartbreaking”, he said, choking back tears.
“You can see the amount of debris we’ve got to remove, and we need to get it done quickly,” he said.

“We need trucks. There’s 20, 30, 40 truckloads [of debris] there.”

A huge pile of debris including branches, sticks and a hay bale, pushed up against a house. The pile stretches wider than the entire house and is nearly as tall. A power pole leans precariously to one side over the home.

The Andrews family have lived in this house for more than 115 years. Now it’s surrounded by debris nearly as high as the roof. Source: SBS News / Alexandra Jones

Ian’s wife, Sharyn Andrews, says it’s been difficult — physically and emotionally — to begin the clean-up while grappling with the reality that a lifetime of memories have been washed away.

“It’s just devastating. It’s stuff that we can’t fix,” she said.
“We are only pensioners, so it makes it very hard money-wise.”

“We don’t know whether we’ll be able to come back and live in this house because the water’s got so high.”

Sharyn said other than friends and family, they’ve been offered no assistance.
“We haven’t had anyone here other than my family. We’ve had no help from anybody.”
“The longer they leave it, the worse it is. The mud smells,” Sharyn said.

“People can’t do it, it’s got to be machinery. People can’t move this.”

A broken glass door that has Christmas decorations on it. On the white wall on the bottom of the frame is a marking that reads 'March 2021 flood'. Above it is a line on the wall showing the 2025 flood level far surpassing 2021.

Markings inside the Andrews family home show the water level in 2021 floods, and a line far above it now shows how high waters rose this year. Source: SBS News

PM visits flood-ravaged areas

“They will be involved in clean-up, in debris removal, in welfare checks and re-establishing critical infrastructure,” Albanese said.
They will be joined by 100 disaster relief workers by the end of the week.
Ian and Sharyn’s grandson, Josef Proctor, said he’d like to see more boots on the ground.
“Any help is good, but would I say it’s good enough? No. No way,” he said.

“This is like a war zone. A disaster, just catastrophic.”

A young, larger set man, with arm tattoos, wearing a dark blue singlet, smiling at the camera. Behind him is a large piece of heavy machinery on a muddy road. The grass appears to be all swept to one side.

Single father of three Josef Proctor said he’s devastated by the destruction, but the community coming together to help has lifted his spirits. Source: SBS News

“There hasn’t been much government assistance in the area. Not at the moment anyway,” he said.

Josef lives on the same street as his grandparents and is also one of the thousands now displaced by the disaster.
“I’m a single dad of three kids and their rooms are gone. Clothes gone. It’s been pretty extreme.”
“If I didn’t have my mum, we would have nowhere to go,” Proctor said.
“I’m going to have to move away.”
He said he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing.

“Whole buildings in sections, like whole chicken coops… just scattered.”

Two men walking up towards a house, their backs to the camera. The ground is covered in a thick muddy sludge. Debris is scattered everywhere.

The NSW government is opening five recovery centres in flood-impacted areas from Tuesday, offering a range of support services to affected residents. Source: SBS News

Helping hands

Shattered by the news of his hometown’s suffering, ex-rugby league player Matt Adamson travelled on Monday from Queensland to help with the clean-up.
“I grabbed some rakes and some boxes of gum boots and stuff because a lot of farmers were saying they needed that sort of general assistance just to get through,” Adamson said.

“I get pretty emotional, because as a young kid growing up in this area, it was a beautiful place to grow up.

A very tall man wearing grey shorts and a pinkish red t-shirt stands on the right, holding a blue cleaning rag, with an older woman with short, white hair on the left dressed in all grey.

Ex-rugby league player Matt Adamson (right) travelled from Queensland to help his hometown clean up after devastating floods. Sharyn Andrews (left) saidshe remembers Adamson from when he was a child. Source: SBS News

Through the heartache, Sharyn said she’s grateful for the helping hands.

“The people that are helping, like Matty, he’s come from Queensland because his parents live here in town, and we’ve known him from when he was a little kid,” Sharyn said.
After seeing the scale of the damage, Adamson also thinks much more assistance is needed.
“Has the prime minister been here yet? Has he turned up?” he said.
“This is a big moment to come and help local people who pay their taxes and are struggling to survive, especially our farmers,” Adamson said.
Millions of dollars in disaster relief payments are now available to residents and businesses in 19 council areas.
Ian Andrews hopes he’ll be eligible.

“This is a lower-income [area], like a lot of pensioners, a lot of older people in the Taree area, and I know there’s a lot of them that have been caught in the flood. They’re probably just as bad off as I am,” Andrews said.

Record-breaking floods

Sharyn said the water last week rose nearly a metre above the last devastating floods in 2021.
Her late mother-in-law also kept records of previous flood events.
“She said the 1929 was the worst flood. And this flood was bigger than 1929.

“She always kept a journal and had all the all the heights recorded. And I have continued that since we’ve lived here,” she said.

Four people smiling and posing for a photo, standing close together, a middle aged man in a dark long sleeved shirt, an older woman in grey jumper, shirt and track pants, a younger man in a blue singlet, and another tall middle aged man in a coral t-shirt.

Still smiling as they confront the mammoth cleanup ahead. (From right) Matt Adamson, Josef Proctor and Sharyn Andrews. Source: SBS News

“Terrible to lose a lot of sentimental stuff, but we have our memories.

“And that’s what I say to the kids. You know, the kids are upset, and I said, “You know, we’ve just got our memories.”
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