00:03A severe weather warning is in place for northern New South Wales.
00:06Worst flooding on record.
00:09Rescues are still underway.
00:12When the Northern Rivers region was devastated by flooding in 2022, the state and federal response was unprecedented.
00:21This is the biggest of agreement of its kind ever in response to a very significant event.
00:29$880 million was earmarked to buy back flood-damaged houses for demolition or relocation, to raise them on stilts or
00:38retrofit them with flood-resilient materials.
00:41Now the Resilient Homes program is winding down.
00:45Are we ready for that to end?
00:47The answer probably is no, and simply because it's taken so long to get the structure in place.
00:56Of the 6,000 homes damaged in the floods, fewer than 1,000 have been bought back, while around 600
01:03are on track to be raised or retrofitted.
01:07Buyback applications have now closed, with other deadlines closing in.
01:12Many applicants say the process has been slow and mired in red tape.
01:17Originally in my street, no house has got a buyback except the house next door, which happened to have the
01:23highest floor level in the street.
01:25Good little boy.
01:27Faye Ross applied multiple times, but ultimately missed out.
01:31It was one of the most frustrating exercises I've ever gone through.
01:35I have never been able to get an explanation as to how they selected houses to get a buyback.
01:41Never.
01:42The program itself has been very challenging for people to engage with, and I think there are many people out
01:48there in the community that still don't properly understand what might still be available to them.
01:53The fourth task of deciding who gets help and who misses out has been the responsibility of the New South
02:00Wales Reconstruction Authority, a body that didn't even exist three years ago.
02:05The community, I can understand and empathise that they will be frustrated with the time that it's taken.
02:10There was no public policy framework at all. It didn't exist at government level.
02:15Recovery Minister and Lismore MP Janelle Safin says the 2022 disaster was a trigger moment for policy makers.
02:24We've clearly learnt lessons. There's more of a public policy framework now within the Reconstruction Authority.
02:32The focus was to put community at the centre of the work we were doing, to evolve and adapt the
02:37program to meet community needs.
02:41It's feared Cyclone Alfred has claimed its first victim in New South Wales.
02:46Last year, the region found itself at the mercy of Mother Nature once again.
02:51Janelle Safin says the program isn't perfect, but it's helped keep people safe.
02:56When Alfred came, there was about 660 households who weren't there that would have been there.
03:04So for them, it clearly is bang for buck.
03:07But there's still the question of what to do with the parcels of land that have been bought back.
03:12Federal law currently prevents building on them again, but the council and state government support rezoning them for flood resilient
03:20infrastructure.
03:21The land is still valuable, industrial, commercial, there are countless opportunities to use that land in a really valuable way.
03:32As the end of the program looms, homeowners, builders and house raisers are scrambling to get the work finished.
03:40The Lismore Mayor says he hopes the region's struggles will not be in vain.
03:45Some areas in New South Wales will experience the disaster and hopefully the lessons learned from Lismore will have a
03:53positive effect on their recovery.
03:55We're the guinea pigs.
03:57A community that's adapting in real time.
04:00Hannah Ross, ABC News, Lismore.
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