Three volunteers from Tocumwal’s State Emergency Service have provided support for flood recovery efforts in the state’s north this month.
Deputy Commander Jinette Graham was the first on the ground, and assisted the incident control commander in his duties.
She was deployed to Newcastle on Tuesday, March 2 and returned the following Monday, March 7.
‘‘They got bombarded with rain so badly they weren’t even sure how bad it was,’’ she said.
‘‘I mainly assisted the incident control manager where needed, and spent most of my time in the incident control room.
‘‘It was an interesting experience; very different to the kind of thing we do here in Tocumwal.’’
Next to roll up their sleeves was fellow member Wendy Tucknott, who left for the state’s north on Tuesday, March 15.
She described witnessing firsthand the devastation caused by flood.
‘‘We started off in Lavington, NSW, which was in a pretty bad way,’’ Ms Tucknott said.
‘‘Water had overflowed from the bridge and washed downhill, flooding a lot of homes along the way.’’
Ms Tucknott rounded out her deployment providing peer support to SES members on the ground in Coraki and Lismore, before returning home Monday last week.
Returning from his second deployment yesterday was Ian Hovenden, who had previously rendered assistance in flood affected towns on behalf of Berrigan’s Rural Fire Service.
Mr Hovenden assisted with flood preparation and mitigation, ahead of further wet weather forecast for this week.
He was deployed to Coffs Harbour last Friday, and returned yesterday.