{"id":931951,"date":"2026-10-17T22:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T22:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/931951\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T22:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T22:58:08","slug":"a-tale-of-two-cities-hope-and-despair-within-lismore-after-the-flooding-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/931951\/","title":{"rendered":"A tale of two cities: hope and despair within Lismore after the flooding | New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alison Norris looks admiringly around the simple two-bedroom home that has housed her and her three children for the past nine months. From the outside, it looks like a demountable found at a construction site, bordered by a tidy native garden. But it\u2019s more than she has had in the nearly five years since the worst flood in Australia\u2019s history took her family home away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to have to walk around at night getting canisters of water to flush the toilet,\u201d she says. This time last year they were living in a squat; now she is at her own dining room table, frequently popping up to point out the features of her home with the energy of someone who doesn\u2019t like to sit still. \u201cThis one has got walls and it\u2019s got air conditioning and a fridge and electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heaven,\u201d she adds, sadly. \u201cIt was absolute heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is now being taken away, and Norris and her children must move again. The small home is part of a temporary refuge that was set up in the wake of the 2022 Lismore floods,<\/a> one of the most damaging natural disasters in Australia\u2019s history \u2013 and its most expensive recovery. Everyone still here has been told they must be out by mid-December.<\/p>\n

Norris has nowhere else to go: her children have to remain in the district. \u201cI\u2019ve got kids in school \u2026 I can\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

National attention has long since moved on from Lismore. The climate has, too, from a rare three-year long La Ni\u00f1a period \u2013 a phenomenon associated with flooding in Australia\u2019s east coast, which culminated in the 2022 floods \u2013 to a predicted \u201cGodzilla-level\u201d El Ni\u00f1o, associated with drought.<\/p>\n

New housing under construction at the Landcom development in East Lismore, one of the areas being developed to provide new homes following the devastating 2022 floods. <\/p>\n

Many locals have finally found a permanent home, as the town\u2019s footprint retreats from parts of the floodplain and expands into safer, higher areas. Signs of hope and renewal are everywhere.<\/p>\n

But many others, like Norris, are still immersed in navigating their way out of disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really does feel like a tale of two cities at times,\u201d says Carlie Aitkinson, a Bundjalung and Yiman woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a Lismore that is rebuilding, hopeful and imagining what comes next. But alongside that there are still people who are deeply affected by what happened, financially, emotionally and in terms of their safety and sense of belonging. We can\u2019t leave those people behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018You don\u2019t live on the floodplains\u2019<\/p>\n

Lismore sits in what Aitkinson describes as \u201ca wok\u201d of surrounding valleys. The Bundjalung traditional owners refer to the area as dundarimba, which means marshland. Aitkinson says that in the mid-1800s when white settlers began to build cottages on the flood plain, \u201cblackfellas told them: don\u2019t build there\u201d.<\/p>\n

Aitkinson lives in the hills. \u201cI was told very clearly by my grandfather: you need to live in the hills, you don\u2019t live in the floodplains \u2026 Most mob are told that, but there are some mob that live within flood zones, and that\u2019s simply because of cost. It\u2019s heaps cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 1850, the town of Lismore has flooded 155 times<\/a>, ranging from minor to catastrophic.<\/p>\n

People have attempted to adapt over the decades, raising their homes on stilts above where the river was known to peak. But then, on 28 February 2022, came a bigger flood. It eclipsed the old water line, rising to more than 14m.<\/p>\n

Demolition continues across Lismore more than four years after the devastating 2022 floods, with hundreds of ruined homes and properties being cleared as part of the government\u2019s buyback and recovery programs. <\/p>\n

People clung to their roofs; four people died and thousands were displaced. More than 3,500 buildings were damaged beyond repair. Entire streets were struck out. In some areas, it was deemed unsafe to rebuild.<\/p>\n

Residential blocks now look like parklands after the New South Wales government decided it was time to retreat from the floodplain, announcing almost $1bn in buyback programs or to fund retrofits or relocations. In May this year, a report by the NSW auditor general found that the programs had not delivered what was promised<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But after years of bureaucratic inertia, there has suddenly been progress: on 1 October the state government announced it would release more land for flood-affected residents. Plans have also been announced to build more than 500 new homes with Landcombe, a government owned developer in East Lismore, with an additional 50 build-to-rent homes expected to be completed next year.<\/p>\n

Dan Etheridge, the executive director of Northern Rivers Living Labs and a climate resilience expert, says many in the town were already struggling with a housing crisis before the floods knocked out a large portion of the affordable rentals.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisasters meet people where they\u2019re at,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you\u2019re pretty financially secure, and your house isn\u2019t on the floodplain \u2026 You might not have thought about the flood in a while. But if the flood found you less financially secure, less socially connected \u2026 then you\u2019re probably still deep in navigating your way out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janelle Saffin, Lismore\u2019s MP and the minister for disaster recovery, says Lismore has become a more resilient city. Asked if there was anything she wished was done differently, she talks about a more \u201cmanaged retreat\u201d from the floodplain, to give the community a better understanding of both the recovery timeline and their choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould it have been better? Of course it could have been. Have people learned things from it? Of course they have. But have we done OK given the catastrophe that happened to us? Yes,\u201d she tells Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

A street for squatters, and one survivor<\/p>\n

Paul Paitson has no intention to leave his home, which is in the floodplain, but built from local hardwood that can withstand the water.<\/p>\n

He bought the home with his wife in 1989. It\u2019s where he raised his children, and where his wife died. He initially knocked back the buyback offer, instead working to make his home more resilient for the next flood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a single piece of timber in my house that had to be replaced. Not one. Nothing had to be replaced,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Paul Paitson is the last remaining resident on Pine Street, North Lismore, after most of the surrounding properties were bought back by the NSW government following the 2022 floods.<\/p>\n

In his back yard, among a garden he has tended for 37 years, is an ark-like structure made out of salvaged cold room panels that he says is strong enough to float his Hilux ute when the next flood comes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now the only house left on the street. The rest, taken over by squatters and backpackers after the floods, have been demolished or relocated. \u201cIt\u2019s quite nice being here, surrounded by more birds and trees and watching nature slowly reclaim its home,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But he has been offered buyback funds again, and is considering taking it. He\u2019s not sure he has another flood in him and worries he won\u2019t have anything to leave his children. But the uncertainty frightens him: many have found the buyback funds aren\u2019t enough to buy another comparable home.<\/p>\n

Paitson\u2019s floating platform which can keep his tools, lawnmower and other belongings above flood waters \u2013 an improvised adaptation designed to prevent them from being lost in the next inundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got older friends who are still just wandering around in the van years later \u2026 they\u2019re just living in a van,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I have a place, rent-free on a pension. I\u2019m wealthy because this is all I need \u2026 Should I trade that in, to being at least temporarily a homeless person in a van?\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris was one of those who spent time squatting on Paitson\u2019s street. The home she lost was a rental; the buyback funds did not go to her. In the years since the flood, she and her children have largely remained adrift.<\/p>\n

The pod village was her shot at security. Then, in September, she and the other remaining residents received a letter from Northern Rivers Housing<\/a>, seen by Guardian Australia, which said they had to be out by 21 January. That eviction date was then revised back to December \u2013 with no explanation as to why. Singles have been offered $5,000 to get them back on their feet, while families have been offered $10,000.<\/p>\n

The construction site for the 50 build-to-rent homes, 10 of which will be deemed \u201caffordable\u201d, is next door to the pod village. Pod residents will be long gone by the time they\u2019re built.<\/p>\n

Norris has found another two-bedroom home to move into. It\u2019s not big enough for four and the rent is double what she pays now, but it\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n

Lismore\u2019s pod village, originally established as temporary accommodation for people displaced by the devastating 2022 floods. More than four years after the floods, some residents are been forced to leave as the government\u2019s temporary housing program winds down \u2013 despite the ongoing shortage of affordable housing in the region. <\/p>\n

Others aren\u2019t sure what they\u2019ll do. Kareema is hoping she and her two boys will finally be offered a place in social housing.<\/p>\n

Local housing advocates House You say the state should let people remain. The government has opened for expressions of interest for a community housing provider to take over the pods, but nothing has been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Saffin says Homes NSW is working with the pod resident to have them housed elsewhere and that nobody would be made homeless.<\/p>\n

Kellie Holmes, together with her partner, daughter, and three grandchildren, were kicked out of the pod village in August after being told they earned too much. She had been applying for private rentals every morning over breakfast for a year.<\/p>\n

Her family spent two weeks in hotels before they were finally accepted for a home \u2013 on a six-month lease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels surreal,\u201d the 58-year-old says. \u201cI\u2019m terrified it\u2019s a dream, that someone is going to pull it from under our feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a roof over my head, but for how long do I have that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hose it out<\/p>\n

Lismore\u2019s central business district runs parallel to the troublesome Wilsons River. Rather than move to high ground, it has adapted.<\/p>\n

On a cloudless October morning, a cafe that feels like it has been plucked from Melbourne\u2019s inner north is busy serving coffee. Co-owned by Etheridge, it was built after the flood and designed so that every part of the fit-out can be picked up and moved \u2013 even major electrical components. When a flood comes, the plan is to clear out and hose everything that remains.<\/p>\n

Bey Bey cafe in Lismore has incorporated flood-resilient building methods into its premises following the devastating 2022 floods. The cafe uses materials and designs intended to reduce damage in future floods and make the business easier to clean, repair and reopen after inundation. Owners Sarah and Dan Etheridge pictured.<\/p>\n

Other businesses are adopting the same plan. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople that are choosing to stay and be part of this community have done some pretty powerful, deep thinking about what you can and can\u2019t take for granted, and how you have to be prepared,\u201d says Etheridge.<\/p>\n

But it is not, he adds, something that everyone can do. \u201cWe\u2019re also at a time economically where there\u2019s not a lot of choice for most people. Choice is a luxury; it\u2019s a privilege. Most people don\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been a lot of other adaptations in the past year. A modern-looking lift is now attached to the building that houses the music conservatory; it\u2019s big enough to cart a grand piano, alongside their other instruments, to the top floor when a flood comes. The skatepark has been rebuilt, and a new performing arts space has opened up that feels like a mini Sydney\u2019s Carriageworks.<\/p>\n

Kellie Holmes in the kitchen of her short-term rental. She and her three-generation family eventually found a six-month rental in Lismore after being evicted from the pod village.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole downstairs is sacrificial, formed of concrete \u2013 like a road \u2013 and hardwood and steel. So we\u2019ve actually got a venue now that you can just hose out, and you\u2019re back in a week [after a flood],\u201d the theatre director, Julian Louis, says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of hope, a lot has been rebuilt. There\u2019s a lot of funding that has been realised and activated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aitkinson, a trauma expert who has run a healing hub since the flood, says supporting people to rebuild a relationship to the river has helped them heal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real healthy understanding that the poor old river really had nowhere else to go, as opposed to \u2018this thing terrifies me\u2019,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That healing work must exist alongside practical realities, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does worry me we are rebuilding on the floodplain. Our climate has changed, stuff has been mucked up, and we\u2019re watching that now play out.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s always flooded, but this is kind of different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving houses<\/p>\n

For many, there is a cautious sense of hope. Hamish Webster, who grew up in Lismore, was among the first to relocate after getting a buyback payment. He\u2019s given up the land \u2013 but kept the house, relocating it to an area outside Nimbin, about 30km north.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had no faith in any kind of \u2026 government-subsidised land releases or anything like that \u2026 I\u2019m so glad I didn\u2019t wait because I\u2019d still be sitting there waiting,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to borrow more money for the cost of the actual relocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamish Webster moved his house from North Lismore to Nimbin after the 2022 floods, relocating rather than rebuilding on the floodplain. He also used salvaged recycled materials to help rebuild and adapt the property.<\/p>\n

His home used to back on to the Lismore oval. It now has views of the Nightcap national park, a world heritage-listed ancient rainforest. It is decorated with murals salvaged from homes used by squatters.<\/p>\n

Three of his closest friends are now his neighbours, part of a group of seven, including Webster, who relocated their homes to the same subdivision.<\/p>\n

Webster\u2019s move is one example of the different ways Lismore residents have adapted to the long-term impacts of the floods. Photograph: Elise Derwin\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Webster is frustrated the Reconstruction Authority didn\u2019t make an effort to relocate more homes in Lismore instead of demolishing them. The state is offering a grant for people who want to handle the relocation themselves.<\/p>\n

The authority has so far relocated four homes and offered them to people to purchase via a ballot. One was bought by Julian Page. She fought for years to qualify for a buyback for her family home, which was almost fully submerged in the flood, but it wasn\u2019t enough to buy another home other than those in the flood zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel safe now that we will have this home because I don\u2019t feel at all confident that it\u2019s not going to happen again,\u201d she says. \u201cUnfortunately some people have just had to move back on to the flood plain because that\u2019s all they can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the long road to a secure home, Page is grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really lucky that when a disaster happens, the government buys back your house so you\u2019re safe? Like, wow, that is bloody amazing. Yes it has not been perfect, but which other country would do that? I don\u2019t know a single one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alison Norris looks admiringly around the simple two-bedroom home that has housed her and her three children for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-931951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}