State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers from NSW, ACT, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, along with volunteers from the Rural Fire Service, Volunteer Rescue Association, National Parks and numerous other local volunteer organisations, with the assistance of officers from the NSW Fire Brigades have responded to more than 16,800 requests for assistance from members of the community in the Illawarra, Sydney, Central Coast and Hunter areas since June 7th.
SES Director General, Brigadier Philip McNamara said that “ the flooding in the Hunter area along with the two severe storms that have further affected these areas is, so far, the second largest event, in terms of requests for assistance from the community, that the SES has seen in its 52 year history”. “The fact that there are less than 6% of these tasks that remain outstanding is a demonstration of the dedication and commitment of all the volunteers who have given up their time to assist these communities” he added.
Community members in the affected areas are being asked to assist the SES by reporting any tasks that may have already been completed by residents themselves or qualified tradesmen. The SES is also in the process of calling people with outstanding requests for assistance to check if volunteer services are still required for those tasks.
The role of the SES is to secure damaged buildings, prevent further water from getting into property and clear access to properties and roads from fallen trees. “The SES will temporarily secure your property so that repairs can be made by a qualified tradesman at a later date” Brigadier McNamara said. “The majority of the remaining tasks and the focus of the continued volunteer efforts are now on removing some very large trees, which will require the assistance of cranes and heavy machinery to be brought into the area” he added. “The SES asks for patience from those members of the community that still need assistance” he said and added that “volunteers will attend to these outstanding requests within the next few days”. Recent storm activity and predicted weather activity will impede the response times of these tasks a little and the total amount of requests for assistance may increase as well. Brigadier McNamara said “SES volunteers are professionally trained to national standards to deal with responding to requests for assistance in weather conditions such as these”. “Any new requests or re-calls to previous tasks will be handled promptly” he added.
Further recovery and maintenance efforts following initial temporary repairs undertaken by SES volunteers, will be required to be undertaken by property owners and professional tradespeople, to ensure that any damage to homes is permanently repaired. Emergency protection provided by the SES is a temporary measure only. People who have been affected by the storms now need to make further arrangements to ensure that their property is secure. Following is a list of resources and numbers that can be contacted:
- For home owners who are insured and renters who have contents insurance, contact your insurance company or the Insurance Disaster Services for more information and to organise claims and repairs
- Department of Community Services (DoCS) State Disaster Recovery Centre Hotline – 1800 018 444
- If you have issues with power/electricity, please contact your electricity provider
- For information on tenants rights and fair trading when dealing with repairs, please call the Office of Fair Trading on 133 220
- Community information and assistance can be sourced from:
The SES thanks the employers of the volunteers who have given these people time off work to come and assist with the response to community need throughout the flood and storm activities. Along with this is an acknowledgement of the families of all SES volunteers who provide the necessary support to allow volunteers the time and commitment needed to respond and assist those communities in need. “Without the support of the families and employers of all volunteers, the SES and other volunteer agencies would not be able to respond in such a diligent manner. The SES wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to all employers and families for their continued support of the volunteers”, Brigadier McNamara said.
The SES also wishes to acknowledge the generous and overwhelming support it is receiving through emails and phone calls from community members. A large number of offers of donations, and requests for volunteering information have also been received over the past 11 days. If people wish to donate to the SES, to ensure that your local volunteers benefit from this donation, please call your local SES Unit (remembering that these Units may be busy over the next few days) and leave a message. You will be contacted with details of how to donate locally. For larger donations, please visit the ‘contact us’ page on the SES website (www.ses.nsw.gov.au) and send an enquiry outlining your offer with your contact details.
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For further information contact:
SES Media Page (02 4225 7500)
