After continuous heavy rainfall that resulted in flooding across New South Wales and Queensland, the federal government announced an expansion to its disaster assistance program on Wednesday.

Residents in 30 council areas that have been most affected by the floodwaters are eligible to apply. Of those, 27 suburbs are located in New South Wales while three are situated in Queensland.

Some areas have seen more than 50mm of rain in just the past 48 hours alone. Even more dangerously, The Bureau of Meteorology has forecasted that heavier rainfalls will continue to plague the coastline over the next few days.

As the threat of further flooding looms, the federal government’s disaster payment is being called back into action. It was deployed earlier in the year due to flooding in February and July.

NSW braces for continuous heavy rainfall. Source: The Guardian​

Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt said: ‘Eleven of these LGAs were also disaster declared in August, which demonstrates how challenging it can be for these communities to get back on their feet.’

‘Some financial support has already been made available through the Commonwealth and state governments for the August floods, but councils are facing significant repairs to public assets damaged in the latest event, and our priority is to provide the support we can.’

NSW Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke also stated: ‘It can take some time to understand and calculate the impacts of an event like this, particularly when some LGAs [local government areas] still have flooding throughout their regions due to river system flooding,’

‘We are continuing to assess the impacts of this event to ensure that appropriate support is available.’

Assistance under the program includes funding to help people whose homes or properties have been damaged in floods, council assistance with restoring essential assets, and funding for primary producers or small business owners.

Source: @BOM_QLD​

Am I eligible?

So far, residents of the following LGAs are eligible for the payments:

New South Wales

• Blayney
• Bogan
• Bourke
• Brewarrina
• Cabonne
• Cowra
• Dubbo
• Edward River
• Forbes
• Gilgandra
• Glen Innes Severn
• Greater Hume
• Gunnedah
• Gwydir
• Lachlan
• Lithgow
• Liverpool Plains
• Moree Plains
• Mid-Western
• Narrabri
• Narromine
• Tamworth
• Upper Lachlan
• Walgett
• Warren
• Warrumbungle
• Weddin

Queensland

• Murweh
• Paroo
• Quilpie

Source: Sky News Australia​

Stay safe and warm, everyone! What are your thoughts about this article? Were you (or anyone you know) affected by the recent floods? Let us know in the comments below!

For further information about the program, flood-affected communities in NSW can click here, while Queensland residents can head here.

 

[Ezzy]

$1,000. I wonder how far this will go to helping affected households? With businesses affected by the floods too l would guess no possibility of being able to work at a work place means no income. Will these people be eligible for Centrelink payments? I hope so.

Does the funding needed by the Councils to fix public amenities come from Council coffers meaning the Ratepayer pays here too or do Councils have insurance to cover such disasters? I believe most insurance companies do not cover 'acts of God'. Could this flooding have been avoided with better planning by the Councils with regard to levees to assist water runoff etc? I don't know but it does seem a shame this has already happened in February & July too. Were any measures put in place then to avoid a similar occurrence?

l have been fortunate & this has never happen to me & l hope it never does. I just hope these folk get the assistance, both financial & materialistic to put their homes & lives back together soon.