Disaster assistance is now available in storm and flood affected Northern New South Wales local government areas of Armidale, Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Glen Innes Severn, Inverell, Kempsey, Kyogle, Lismore, Nambucca, Port Macquarie – Hastings, Richmond Valley and Tweed.
Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud said the heavy rainfall and flooding caused widespread damage across the impacted councils.
“This was a serious event which has caused significant damage to local roads, businesses and residential properties,” Minister Littleproud said.
“Through the DRFA, a range of practical assistance measures are now available to help individuals get back on their feet.
“This includes in-kind assistance, such as emergency accommodation, food hampers or small cash payments to purchase essential items, as well as grants to replace essential household contents or repair structural damage to homes.”
New South Wales Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said,”Communities experienced significant losses and disruption due to heavy rainfall and flooding over several days, including road closures, landslips, school closures and in some cases, evacuations.”
“The assistance being announced today will help cover the costs associated with the operational response and repairing damaged essential public assets, such as roads.”Assistance available under the DRFA may include:
- help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged
- support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets
- concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations
- freight subsidies for primary producers, and
- grants to eligible non-profit organisations
For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on 1800 018 444. To apply for a concessional loan or grant, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit the
.
Further information on disaster assistance is available on the Australian Government’s
and the
.
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