Joanne Kendall and her husband Chris are among those who cleaned up their shattered homes near Hawkesbury, north-west Sydney, as the river recedes.
He is in remission of leukemia.
“We do it as a team and we try to laugh a little bit every day,” he said.
Joanne Kendall and her husband Chris were among those who cleaned up their shattered homes near Hawkesbury, north-west Sydney, as the river receded. (New) The riverbank has disappeared after flooding in Windsor, NSW. (New) Heavy rains and wild winds have returned to large parts of New South Wales as thousands of residents and businesses continue to clean up the floods.
Nearly 415,000 people have applied for flood payments of $ 1,000 in just a few days.
The federal government extended flood disaster payments to include eight more areas of local government that were devastated by flood waters.
NSW Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet and Emergency and Resilience Services and Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke surveyed the helicopter floods on Saturday. (Photo by David Swift-Pool / Getty Images) (Getty)
Residents of Cumberland, Mid Coast, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Newcastle, Port Stephens, Randwick and Warren are now eligible for payments.
Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet said on Saturday that a “major effort” would be needed to repair the damage to the communities affected by the floods.
“I had the opportunity this morning with (Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke) to fly over Maitland and Singleton and see the extent of the damage from above,” he said yesterday.
Flood cleaning has begun at Wollombi Tavern on the central coast of NSW. (Supplied)
“And the enormous challenge we face, not only for local communities but also for governments, to make sure we get our communities up and running again is not lost on me.”
Rain is expected to move away from coastal areas on Monday, but could return as soon as Wednesday.
Bellambi was 25 millimeters, Lake Macquarie 21 millimeters and 13 millimeters fell on Sunday at Sydney Olympic Park.
Heavy rains have returned today to parts of New South Wales already affected by heavy flooding. (Image: David Swift) (Getty)
Residents were also being warned of dangerous surfing conditions in Byron Coast, Coffs Coast, Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast and Batemans Coast.
Flood cleaning begins after a week of disaster