Financial help has been offered to Shoalhaven residents and businesses hit by the weekend's floods.
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Disaster assistance has been made available to the Shoalhaven, Kiama, Shellharbour, Wollongong, Wingecarribee and Wollondilly local government areas after the weekend's flooding.
The assistance measures are being provided by the Australian and NSW Governments through the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
Support includes:
- Funding for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets.
- Assistance for eligible residents to help meet immediate needs like emergency accommodation or small cash payments to purchase essential items generally provided from evacuation or recovery centres.
- Grants for eligible residents to replace lost essential household items to maintain basic standard of living.
- Grants for eligible residents to undertake essential structural repairs to restore their homes to a safe and habitable condition.
- Concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers, sporting and recreation clubs, and non-profit organisations to repair or replace damaged or destroyed property.
- Freight subsidies for primary producers to help transport livestock and fodder.
State Member for South Coast, Liza Butler, said the top priority in the Shoalhaven was repairing the Comerong Island ferry as the cables had snapped and "people can't get on or off the island".
"We really need to get those cable fixed as soon as possible," she said.
Other key issues included damage to Kangaroo Valley Road and Burrier Road, according to Ms Butler.
She said the damage on Kangaroo Valley Road appeared to be just the road pavement, rather than structural issues like the landslips of previous floods.
"While it needs to be fixed, it's not as critical as previous incidents," Ms Butler said.
However it appeared there might have been more damage on Burrier Road, where work was being carried out to repair the damage caused by previous natural disasters.
Ms Butler said she was awaiting more information on the toll left by flooding on April 5 and 6.
"I've spoken with [Shoalhaven] council this morning and offered whatever assistance I can with the Reconstruction Authority," she said.
Acting Federal Minister for Emergency Management Catherine King said floods had caused widespread damage across NSW in a short amount of time.
"It's important that we act quickly to activate disaster support so affected communities can begin their clean-up and recovery," Ms King said.
"I want to thank those who have worked hard to start the clean-up efforts so quickly and I want to assure those whose lives have been disrupted that we will support them through their recovery."
"The NSW Government is continuing to assess the damage and fully understand the impact of this disaster, and the Australian Government stands ready to respond to any requests for assistance."
NSW Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib acknowledged the efforts of the emergency services and volunteers.
"We are grateful to our volunteers and to our communities who have worked together to keep each other safe as these intense storms passed through NSW," Mr Dib said.
"The SES has continued to work throughout the night to reach out to communities and I'm confident that with the work they've been doing, that we are being incredibly proactive."
"Work to assess the impact of flooding across the state is being conducted as quickly as possible, with disaster declarations like these a crucial first step in unlocking assistance."
For information relating to financial assistance, replacing lost documents, location of your nearest recovery centre and more, please contact Service NSW on 13 77 88 or visit NSW Government.
To apply for a concessional loan or primary producer grant, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit Rural Assistance Authority.
Further information on disaster assistance can be found on the Australian Government's Disaster Assist website.
