Reports on the flood situation from Kempsey, New South Wales.
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00:00Hempsey is beginning the process of recovery from major flooding.
00:07So here in town the major flood height is 6.6 metres.
00:12This flood reached around 7.1 metres.
00:16So quite significant. Homes and businesses have been inundated.
00:21And there are still, in fact, we've seen homes this morning that still have water sitting in them,
00:28even though the flood waters are receding.
00:31So we heard from the Bureau that I think the water level here at Kempsey is about 5.9 now.
00:38So it's fallen below that as of this morning, I should say.
00:41So it has fallen below that major flood level.
00:44It's expected to fall back below the moderate flood level sometime throughout today.
00:50But a significant sort of recovery process now facing many homes and businesses in Kempsey.
00:57Yeah, big job ahead. What about the local authorities? What have they been saying?
01:03Well, we're here at the SES headquarters in Kempsey now.
01:07Their big priorities today are going to be rapid damage assessments to ensure that buildings and facilities are safe for people to re-enter.
01:17They're also looking at resupplying isolated communities.
01:21Kempsey is on the Maclay River, which is a very fast moving river when in flood.
01:26And there have been communities isolated along the river system.
01:32So they're looking at, you know, taking in food and medical supplies to those areas and providing medical evacuations as needed.
01:40Emergency services have even in around the time that we've been here being called to flood rescues too.
01:47So the warning from authorities to not drive through flood water still very pertinent, even with the flood waters receding.
01:56People are still finding themselves in trouble if they do try and take that risk.
02:02So that plea has come from the SES as they're still dealing with that type of situation.
02:08And then more broadly, authorities here are, of course, managing lots of sites and properties without power and have been without power for a couple of days now.
02:19So trying to reconnect those homes and businesses to power so that the cleanup can get underway in earnest.