A Border man volunteering in the Northern Rivers floods clean up effort this week says Lismore is an "abandoned city" and its residents are feeling loss and grief months after the disaster struck.
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Extreme rainfall earlier this year caused flooding in Northern NSW, parts of Sydney and Southern Queensland, killing more than 20 people and causing extensive damage to homes, business and property.
Holbrook's Ian Hall is in flood-affected Lismore until Sunday to help with the disaster clean up, which is ongoing.
"It reminds me of Melbourne in the middle of COVID, it's dead, but worse than that," he said.
"The windows are boarded up and and you can see the damage and devastation ... it's like an abandoned city.
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"There still seems to be a lot of grief and loss from people up here who don't seem to be getting the assistance they need and they don't know what to do."
Mr Hall is in a team of about 25 people who are sleeping at a Lismore sports hall and volunteering through Disaster Relief Australia's Operation Riordan clean up project.
He said the volunteers came from a range of occupations all around the country and were helping however they could.
"(On Monday) we cleaned a tea tree farm of debris," he said.
"There was even a french door refrigerator in the middle of the tea trees that we had to get out, and tables and chairs, so the poor guy could get in and harvest his tea trees.
"It's his livelihood and by him harvesting, he can employ people and money can come back into the community."
On Tuesday Mr Hall was clearing mould from ceilings.
"We've been to places where people can't even walk back into their house because it's been deemed an insurance job and they can't even occupy it for up to two years until the tradespeople can get there and replace their floor," he said.
Mr Hall said the Lismore residents were grateful for any help.
"It's just an ordinary person, like you, going through one hell of a tough time," he said.
"It's good giving donations and things like that, but we really need good caring people on the ground ready to muck in.
"We're doing hard yakka, we're sweating, we're dirty and muddy and we're enjoying every minute of it, it feels so good to be able to help these people up here."
People can register for help, and to help, including corporate teams, sporting teams, and spontaneous volunteers.
How to register for assistance: https://floodhelpnr.com.au
How to volunteer: https://disasterreliefaus.org/field-ops/operation-riordan/ How to donate: https://disasterreliefaus.org/donate-to-flood-relief/
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