After days of being isolated by floodwaters, the community of Coraki in northern New South Wales has welcomed an influx of assistance.
The Australian Defence Force, at least six Rural Fire Service crews and private citizens arrived in town today after a call went out via social media about the dire situation there.
When Coffs Harbour woman Rachel Selby heard her family members were becoming isolated by floodwaters, she launched into action.
In two days she coordinated a relief effort that rolled into Coraki on Saturday morning bringing fuel, food and fodder for hungry livestock.
"We've been talking to people out there that are running the evacuation centre and the local police sergeant," Ms Selby said.
"They are going to meet us and they have a forklift to start unloading and distribute it from there.
Tanya Jones who runs the Coraki Community Facebook page said it would have been difficult for the town to get the help it needed without social media.
Ms Jones said people from all over the Northern Rivers and beyond had signed up to the page to offer help.
"There would be no help if social media wasn't there," she said.
"It's been huge in getting people in contact for rescue, because the phone lines were down."
Overnight, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service flew three urgent medical missions to the area, transporting elderly patients from isolated areas of Swan Bay and Coraki to Lismore Base Hospital.
With the Richmond River at Coraki falling to 5.38 metres at 11am on Saturday. the road from Casino to Coraki via Tatham was able to reopen.
Recovery hampered by infrastructure damage
As the Northern Rivers flood emergency enters its sixth day, some areas remain flooded while many towns are moving into clean-up and recovery mode.
The state government said another 900 Australian Defence Force personnel would be in the region from Sunday to help people clean up.
Buildings in Lismore are being checked for safety.
State Emergency Service and Council crews are working across flood-damaged areas of Lismore, including the Central Business District.
Lismore Council's general manager, John Walker, said the CBD was closed to the public as it would take time to complete safety checks.
"There's just so many to go through and also, where they're privately owned — for example, shopping centres and the like — they'll want their own certifications and their own assessments made as well," Mr Walker said.
This morning the State Emergency Service has issued an all-clear for people to return to Iluka, on the lower Clarence River, the Murwillumbah CBD and low-lying parts of Lennox Head and Maclean where there were fears this week of damage to the flood levee.
Tweed Council has said water is now safe to drink in all areas of the shire apart from Uki.
Power, internet still out for thousands
On Saturday morning, Essential Energy was reporting power outages for 10,300 customers across the region including over 5,000 in Lismore.
A spokesperson said additional crews had been brought in to assist, with an aerial patrol today to assess conditions and access to Coraki, Woodburn and Broadwater.
Essential Energy said significant damage to the rural network would require helicopter support.
The National Broadband Network has also experienced significant damage, with 81,000 services from the Tweed to Evans Head affected.
Chris Cusack, general manager of NBN Local said there was no finite answer as to when these services would all be back up and running.
Mr Cusack said 56,000 services were down due to damage to a fibre access node at Woodburn.
He said the other customers affected were around the Grafton and Lismore areas, with assessments to damage being undertaken where it was safe to do so.
He said NBN Co would be trying to bring in temporary infrastructure to try to restore services as quickly as possible.
Fuel supplies to flow in days
Mark McKenzie, from the Australasian Convenience and Marketers Association, said fuel supply was being hampered by service stations being closed for various reasons such as power supply and damaged infrastructure.
"The fast flowing water here has caused damage to service stations like we have never seen." he said.
Mr McKenzie said there was no reason to panic-buy fuel because supplies would be flowing in days.
