Flood Blog
The Co-op Federation will continue to check in with our members during recovery and keep you posted on their progress. If your co-op has been affected by the floods and we have been unable to reach you to offer support, please contact Molly at molly@fed.coop
1 April 2022
Left: Tweed Pecan farmers are faced with the arduous process of hand-sorting the only harvest they can salvage. Middle: Flooded pecan farms. Right: Flood relief efforts in Lismore Photo c/o The Koori Mail
Following the second flooding event in one month, waters are receding around the northern rivers region. Heartbroken residents again return to assess the most recent damage. Byron Bay and Ballina recorded 300 ml of rain in just 48 hours and Sydney closed out its wettest March in recorded history. 26 of 31 days recorded rain with 10 days of the month recording over 25 ml.
In Lismore, the offices of the Koori Mail were decimated and then converted to a flood relief hub, with access to the building only now again possible, they are still seeking donations to continue to flood effort to support isolated communities.
Through the Red Cross Telethon, Australians donated over 25 million dollars and these funds are now available to the public as cash grants of $500 and $20,000 (bereavement) are now available here.
Federation Member Updates
Whilst dozens of our member co-ops are suffering, such as the Pecan Farmers of Australia Co-operative (pictured above) other co-ops have swooped in to help.
Left: Federation member Hastings Co-op (Wauchope IGA) sends palates of cleaning supplies to the flood effort. Right: Federation Member Australian Beverage Enterprises Co-operative (ABECS) generously donated $10,000 to flood relief.
17 March 2022
Wardell Fishermens Co-operative
Garry and Helen Joblin from Wardell Fisherman’s Co-operative were still in shock when Molly got through on the phone. “My co-op is gone,” said Garry. “All the equipment, freezers, fridges, processing equipment, gone and the water at Ballina is full of floating fish.”
Garry and Helen used their boats from the very first moment, to rescue people from rooftops.
“In the early days, it was just people shouting for help. Then, when patchy reception came in, people would be looking at the Facebook groups, I’m not really up with all that, and text me or Helen the addresses of where people were stranded. I reckon we saved 100-200 people in our boat, it’s just been non-stop. As soon as we dropped someone off, someone else would be shouting or texting about someone else who needed help.” Garry was still full of humility and declined our offer of assistance to help him lodge his flood grant.
Pecan Farmers Co-operative of Australia
When Molly spoke to Michelle Chicken, Director at Pecan Farmers Co-operative of Australia, Michelle had been working around the clock for weeks to help the pecan farmers lodge their flood relief applications. She said “Out of our 30 pecan farmers 95% have been affected and it’s just devastating. For some, it is a total loss of crop income and they are frightened to think how they will continue. Others have an inundation of their homes and loss of the farm equipment that would have been used to try and harvest this year’s crop. The clean-up is horrendous, and the recovery will be long”.
The co-op federation will continue to work with the Pecan Farmers Co-op to help in their recovery which might include a crowdfunding campaign, so watch this space.
Mullumbimby Rural Co-op
When, we spoke to Director Mark Toon, he described the mayhem of the first days when the phones were still down.
“We’ve seen sights never seen before, like the bodies of cattle from the stock loss and horses tangled up in fences. People were even bringing boats up to the co-op, one got loaded up with 10 bales of hay!”
The co-op struggled to trade for about a week but we were lucky that we had installed above-ground fuel tanks about five years ago, they are better environmentally, so it turned out, the co-op was the only business able to supply fuel to emergency services. There were lines for fuel were down the block.
Even when the communications were down people could still buy things from the co-op using cash and their co-op card. The local bank was giving $500 cash withdrawals if you could quote your account number, they just took a punt that you had that money in your account.
At Mullumbimby Rural Co-op we will continue to do all we can to support members. Flexibility with bills, providing info about support, and getting in the stock everyone is going to need in the months to come to rebuild this place”.
We also talked about the logistics of disaster recovery and how bringing in ‘manpower’ for clean-up also created the need to feed, water, clothe, and provide accommodation for those people. There is also an ongoing difficulty getting tradies in from afar because of problems of access as well as lack of accommodation in town. We also discussed the housing crisis which was already affecting the area which will now balloon with all the people displaced from their destroyed homes.
Mark suggested that the best place to donate for real benefit for their co-op and the area is Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre flood appeal who are delivering excellent, on-ground support.
The video above shows flooding around the service station run by Mullumbimby Rural Co-operative.
Click here to Donate Mullumbimby