Desperate families in northern NSW have made an urgent plea for help as floodwaters continue to ravage their communities and put lives at risk.
Flooding and landslides have hit the regional Northern Rivers town of Mullumbimby with locals likening the carnage to a war zone, while entrances into the town have been cut off.
Residents have become trapped with mud covering the town.
Discarded belongings are piled on the side of the road, while many have become stranded as the result of landslide damage cutting off roads forcing locals to issue an urgent plea for help.
Some have taken to social media to ask for emergency services to be sent to the town.
Local resident Monica Sheppard said there were dozens of people including children and babies left without electricity, food and water in the Northern Rivers district.
“It’s a state of emergency,” she said, describing the situation as “apocalyptic”.
“There are landslides and regular people are trying to scale cliffs and rescue pregnant women, babies and families.
“We need the army, we need police, we need services.”
Locals hold grave fears for the elderly and disabled residents, while people are crying in the streets desperate for any assistance.
Some are having to trek through mud and waist-high, fast-flowing floodwater just to make sure loved ones are safe.
One local wrote on Facebook: “Mullum looked like a war zone, three people said it reminded them of Burning Man, it reminded me of New York after 9/11.”
With the landslides and bridges being broken due to the floods, residents of Mullumbimby have no power or water.
There are no operational shops and many supermarkets are running desperately low on supplies, so many are getting food sent across to them by pulley systems.
EFTPOS systems are also down, meaning people need to line up at ATMs and banks, but machines have also run out of money.
Petrol in the small towns is also hard to come by.
Aerial photographs of Ballina have shown the sheer scope of the flood disaster as landmarks across the city are overwhelmed by water.
Bunnings Ballina, near the site of the iconic Big Prawn tourist hotspot, has become inundated by rising floodwaters.
The Bureau of Meteorology has reported water levels exceeding 6.5m in some parts of the Lower Richmond River near Ballina.
In just 24 hours the situation in Ballina has deteriorated dramatically, with many homes inundated by floodwaters and phone reception reportedly patchy.
“We‘ve got serious issues here in Ballina, there’s no point trying to hide it any longer,” Ballina’s mayor, Sharon Cadwallader told the Today Show on Wednesday.
“The river has burxjmtzywst its banks, the whole of the island is filling up.”
Rescue teams have begun searching the town for stranded residents camped out on roofs and trapped inside of flooded buildings.
A family of five from the South of Ballina were rescued by a Queensland Health Life Flight helicopter on Thursday morning.
Paramedics were winched down to the scene where two adults, a teenager and two younger children were boarded onto a rescue basket and lifted into the helicopter.
Ballina was issued evacuation warnings in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Just hours later, the direction changed to “evacuate now” at 6am giving the residents 30 minutes to pack their things and leave.
As of 5am on Wednesday, the SES had received over 3000 calls for assistance including 255 flood rescues. Most of these calls are coming from the Central Coast suburb of Gosford and a number from outer Sydney suburbs including Penrith, Liverpool and Blacktown.
The NSW SES continues to advise staying away from flood affected areas and avoiding non-essential travel.
