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The first steps of clean-up, recovery

Flood clean-up efforts have started in north Deniliquin, where council will collect sandbags and plastic no longer in use.

Flood clean up efforts have already begun, with Davidson St in north Deniliquin Edward River Council’s first target.

Council started with the removal of sandbags and plastic in Davidson St, Herriott St, Evans St, Hodgkins St, Jefferson St, Morris St and Jones Ave.

Dirt stockpiles are expected to be removed this week.

“With the river levels receding and no high flows in the system upstream of Deniliquin, we can start planning for clean-up and recovery,” council said.

“Recovered useable sandbags will be transferred elsewhere if needed, or remain in storage at Deniliquin if flood waters rise again.

“It is up to individual property owners as to whether they remove their sandbags and other protection works.”

Residents who would like protection materials removed from their properties are asked to place these items neatly either on the nature strip (preferred) or in their front yards.

Council staff won’t enter the property beyond the front yards or remove the sandbags from buildings.

Sandbags that have been wet or come into contact with flood water should be put aside, as these will be taken out to the landfill rather than re-used.

In Deniliquin at the weekend, NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole was given a tour of flood impacted areas by Edward River Council Mayor Peta Betts.

He also met with emergency services volunteers who he said had “done an amazing, amazing job” in protecting the community.

Mr Toole said last week’s pothole funding announced for NSW councils, which included just over $$549,000 for Edward River, should go some way to fixing some of the damage.

He said while the allocation might not cover all repairs required, it would allow for some “immediate relief”.

"There's a lot of potholes everywhere, it's not going to fix the road but it is about providing immediate relief to councils to make sure that the roads are safe,“ he said.

“And we know that people are starting to harvest, we also know that people are starting to think about travelling on the roads for Christmas and the holiday period.

“So let's get the potholes fixed as quickly as possible and support the council's in doing that.”

Mr Toole said other support measures and funding streams were still being investigated.

“There's always different packages that we're looking at, at different stages, and it's obviously looking at the data and assessments.

“The first thing right now is about keeping people safe.

“The second phase is around recovery. It's obviously about having rural landholder grants. It's about having primary producer grants. It's about councils being declared natural disaster areas.

“Some of these programmes are in combination with the Federal Government as well, but we want to help these communities that have been impacted by floods, to ensure that they bounce back and get on their feet as quickly as possible.

“There's no doubt there's been significant flooding across the Murray electorate, but also even here in places like Deniliquin.”