Local SES crews deployed north to assist flood recovery

GEELONG and Colac SES crews deployed to assist with flood regions in northern New South Wales have described seeing houses under water and having to use boats to rescue families with babies.

Geelong’s Volker Haring flew into Casino from Coffs Harbour by helicopter last week and witnessed widespread flooding and inundation of properties.

“The amount of water on the ground is enormous, lots of flooded properties, houses under water, you could just see rooflines,” he said.

It’s the second time Mr Haring has been deployed to work on disaster relief, so too his fellow Geelong Unit volunteer Graham Smith who is part of a seven-person team.

“I was deployed to assist with the 2013 Sydney storms, dealing mainly with storm damage, trees on roofs and things like that,” Mr Smith said “This will be different, because with the extent of the flooding we will be delivering food and supplies to members of the community who have been isolated by floodwater.”

Equipped with an Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB), the team has been doing welfare checks on people isolated by floodwaters and in one case helped rescue a family with a baby from their flood damaged house.

“With people in distress you try to calm them down, provide them with as much assistance as you can, talk them through what’s happening,” Mr Haring said.

“Sometimes it’s just a phone conversation to talk them through what they can do in immediate times to keep themselves safe until help arrives.”

Floodwaters were receding around Casino, Mr Haring said, but warm and muggy conditions were contributing to fatigue of he and his team.

“Overall the gratitude of the people is what keeps us going,” he said.

“They’ll need a lot of help for a long time, to clean up, there’s still areas that are isolated.

“I’ve heard of SES units that have been flooded and lost every item of equipment, some members have lost everything.”