Cut off by floodwaters, damaged roads and landslides, the northern New South Wales town of Main Arm near Mullumbimby have set up an innovative system to ensure the community has access to urgent supplies.
A quick-thinking family has erected a pulley system across the gorge to deliver food, fuel and other essentials to those who are likely to remain isolated for some time.
The town of about 500 people currently has no access to the main road, and community members are banding together to ensure everyone has what they need until the damage can be repaired.
Amoss Marles, 10, whose family set up the pulley system, said it might be many months before his home gets back to normal.
"It's pretty intense, I think it will be two months, three months … maybe a year until this is fixed because there's so much damage this flood has caused," he said.
Resident Catriona Wallace said the small town was not being prioritised by emergency services that were already under-resourced and overwhelmed by the scale and impact of flooding across the Northern Rivers region.
"The bridge is not stable so it was probably not a sensible thing to do ... but otherwise the whole community would be locked in.
"We've never seen anything like this ... in 29 years," she said.
A whole new landscape
Lisa Davis, who is visiting friends in Main Arm, said the landscape was completely unrecognisable.
"Every bridge, every road is gone," she said.
"We had to climb across a cliff to get across today and we went through two landslides to get through to the top of the village.
"But the community is great, they've come outside to make sure everyone has food."
It is understood there have not been any fatalities or serious injuries in the town, but residents say there were some close calls.
"There was a water tank and a house that stopped the house going all the way [down the hill].
"There was one car that had a family in it and the mud had covered the car. People had to dig them out."
