More financial assistance is coming to flood-ravaged communities as about 9000 people still remain stranded despite waters receding.
Federal Emergency Services Minister Kirsty McBain said NSW communities impacted by the natural disaster, which claimed five lives, will be eligible for more funding because the disaster declaration has been elevated.
Category C assistance is only made available when the impact of a disaster is severe and requires agreement from the prime minister.
The federal funds for severely affected communities and sectors includes clean-up and recovery grants for small businesses and primary producers and the establishment of a community recovery fund.
“At this stage, our categories A and B have been enacted, and we’re hoping to enact categories C, hopefully shortly,” she told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.
“Recovery is going to take time. This isn’t going to be something that is done quickly and we’ve reiterated that we will be there for the long haul.”
The federal government has pledged a disaster recovery payment up to $1000 for eligible adults and $400 for eligible children, on top of personal hardship payments up to $900 per family.
A disaster recovery allowance will provide up to 13 weeks’ income support and primary producers will get access to concessional loans and freight subsidies.
The ongoing clean-up, with the aid of some 70 army personnel on the ground and thousands of volunteers as well as state agencies, has collected more than 10,000 cubic metres of waste so far.
But NSW Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib cautioned the impacts of floods are not over for seven communities or about 9000 people who are still isolated.
At least 8406 damage assessments have been carried out and of these 1065 buildings have been deemed as uninhabitable, including 632 residential buildings, he said.
Volunteers, including concerned locals, are carrying the load of the day-to-day recovery as the areas count the cost of the floods.
One of those was Brett Bennell from Bennell Earthmoving, who offered free excavator and truck services in areas surrounding Coopernook, just north of Taree.
“I’ve moved two truckloads of dead animals, I’ve cleaned out three houses, stuff like that, it’s just shocking,” he told AAP.
“One bloke there didn’t want to show his young fella the dead cows piling up, it’s affecting people bad.”
Mr Bennell said houses had been wiped out, with residents desperately clinging to hope valuable items remained usable.
“They’re trying to keep things but it’s a waste of time and they’ve got no money which is why they want to keep things,” he said.
MidCoast Community Flood Response operations head Holly Rankin was helping bridge the gap between such volunteer efforts and government agency responses.
“We’ve created this out of necessity and very rapidly, but through the experience of creating it I’ve realised the paramount importance of strong disaster response frameworks,” she said.
As the clean-up gets into full swing, another person was charged with looting offences on Tuesday.
They are alleged to have stolen tools, paintings, family photos, DVDs, a fish tank, lamp, tyres, and other personal items from a house in Wingham.
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