{"id":835757,"date":"2025-03-21T13:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T18:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/21\/with-gritted-teeth-northern-nsw-locals-await-something-theyve-never-seen\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T13:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T18:14:08","slug":"with-gritted-teeth-northern-nsw-locals-await-something-theyve-never-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/21\/with-gritted-teeth-northern-nsw-locals-await-something-theyve-never-seen\/","title":{"rendered":"With gritted teeth, Northern NSW locals await something they\u2019ve never seen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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They\u2019re buzzed with adrenaline, sore from filling sandbags, fanging for a coffee, prepared to the gritted teeth. But for residents of the Northern Rivers it\u2019s near impossible to imagine exactly what\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n

And other trials of life don\u2019t stop for a storm.<\/p>\n

As Cyclone Alfred spun over a hot Coral Sea last week, raging in fits between category 3 and 4, Dee Prichard\u2019s husband Ed stopped eating. Stomach pain had gripped him for a fortnight and doctor visits hadn\u2019t helped, so Prichard took him to the emergency department from their home in Lismore Heights.<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/picture>
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Local flash flooding in Lismore as Cyclone Alfred nears the coast.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Nick Moir<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe had emergency surgery on Saturday, and they removed half his large intestine,\u201d Prichard says on Friday from a home buttressed with mattresses against the windows, as they batten down for the cyclone\u2019s long-awaited landfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of that situation, I wasn\u2019t so aware of what else was going on. The surgeon was able to come in last Saturday and operate on him. If it had been today, who knows?<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it weird that in this potential disaster, there\u2019s still things to be very grateful for?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ed is now comfortable and recovering at home after excellent care from the Lismore Base Hospital\u2019s doctors and nurses. Prichard, who moved to Lismore from Bondi during the pandemic, also scooped up her sister and her husband from Cabarita Beach in case it evacuates and brought them home.<\/p>\n

The pot plants are inside, the curtains and blinds drawn to stop glass shards flying from smashed windows, the laundry \u201cpimped\u201d as a safe room with a mat, chairs, snacks and backgammon.<\/p>\n

\"Dee<\/picture>
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Dee Prichard and Ed van Gelderen (inset) and their laundry-turned-safe room in Lismore Heights.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Diane Prichard<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prichard has cooked up a storm while there\u2019s still power: frittata, steak, pasta and meatballs. She feels like she\u2019s in an overlong disaster movie, waiting for the meteor to strike.<\/p>\n

She remembers standing in a mock-up tin shed that emulates the sound of Cyclone Tracy on a visit to a museum in Darwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this incredible rumbling, corrugated iron ratting, wind noise \u2026 it gave you a sense of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say Alfred will be like a violent thunderstorm, but it lasts six to 12 hours, rather than 15 minutes. It will be frightening. There was a strong chance I might have been on my own if Ed was still in hospital. I really feel for anyone who might be alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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AJ Jensen has lived around Lismore since they were nine years old. They\u2019re an LGBTQI social worker and lived through the catastrophic 2022 floods.<\/p>\n

\"Lismore<\/picture>
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Lismore local AJ Jensen (centre) helped people evacuate on Thursday night. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Nick Moir<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After driving back from last weekend\u2019s Sydney Mardi Gras, they spent Thursday night getting people out of the low-lying parts of town after the State Emergency Service urged residents to evacuate by 9pm. Some of them, Jensen says, shut down.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Loading<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had a friend, a community member in town on Wednesday night, who just was frozen in his hairdressing salon, not moving. A bunch of us went down and were like, \u2018We need to go now, dude\u2019. He went through it last time. He just couldn\u2019t fathom it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More rain has already hammered Lismore than expected; 150 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am Friday. People are saying the levee may not hold. Survivors of 2022 have a Rolodex of perils in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk of infection if you get cut, the risk of breaking a bone, the risk of having a mental health crisis, losing your documents,\u201d Jensen says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There are fears what\u2019s left from the 2022 floods pose yet more physical dangers. The government bought back hundreds of homes on the floodplains and there are streets of abandoned houses. The decaying structures, some draped in faded flags painted with pink hearts, are surrounded by temporary fencing residents worry will be weaponised by floodwater.<\/p>\n

\"Temporary<\/picture>
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Temporary fencing around homes bought back by the government after the \u201922 Lismore floods.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Nick Moir<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat fencing is a debris hazard,\u201d Jensen says. \u201cAll of those unsecured buildings and houses are compounding the disaster of it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think this has been experienced much yet on this continent: the recurring big, big climate disaster. That\u2019s the thing we\u2019re going to have to get used to. And it\u2019s an interesting thing to watch my own nervous system and our collective community trauma kick into gear.<\/p>\n

\"Dangerous<\/picture>
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Dangerous coastal conditions are expected to worsen as Alfred edges towards the coast at \u201cwalking speed\u201d.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Nick Moir<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn the end, we just don\u2019t know how big it\u2019ll be.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the story across the Northern Rivers. Alfred is punishing those in its path with a drawn-out crawl, gorging on abnormally hot water off the coast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Big Prawn in Ballina, one of its whiskers stripped off by wind, rises above the Bunnings carpark like the folk around town: standing tall but down a feeler. Inside the hardware store it\u2019s a tale of too late. Sandbags? Sold out three days ago. Powerbanks? Forget it. Torches? The wall\u2019s stripped bare. Good luck out there.<\/p>\n

\"Spectators<\/picture>
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Spectators watch wild surf at Byron Bay on Thursday.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Danielle Smith<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Lennox Head, people gathered on the headland under a rattling screw pine tree to watch the destructive waves: the barbarian foot soldiers of the cyclone. These shores are famous for cushioning the tanning bodies of influencers and holidaymakers, but they\u2019re also natural protective barriers between people and ocean storm surges. They\u2019ve been under attack all week.<\/p>\n

For days, swashbuckling locals have thrown themselves into the maelstrom at Byron Bay\u2019s Main Beach. Crowds filled up the carpark to watch surfers shoot through barrels with the foam flying. Take the thrills while you\u2019re the one controlling them.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the eve of Alfred\u2019s arrival, most surfers and their spectators stayed home. By the evening chainsaws had brought down three of Byron\u2019s famous Norfolk Pines after they hit a dangerous lean, their trunks crashing where onlookers had gathered earlier.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/picture>
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Two of Byron\u2019s famous beachside Norfolk Pines and one on the main street were brought down on Friday ahead of Cyclone Alfred\u2019s arrival.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Angus Dalton<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a street back from the beach, floodwater creeps up below the yellow house Jim Knight has lived in for 67 years. He\u2019s one of the few who remember Cyclone Zoe in 1974 tossing boulders into the carpark and sending ocean waves breaking down Byron\u2019s main street.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Knight reckons there are 15 inches left between the water and his floor. Is he planning to stay? \u201cYes, at this point. It\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Monday, these towns have drained pools, sandbagged doors, taped windows, torn sods of grass from gutters and picked through bare shelves for final supplies. All that\u2019s left to do is face Alfred\u2019s landfall. But with every sunrise that casts the coast in purgatory yellow light, that final hit seems more delayed.<\/p>\n

In this mecca for the modern day-spiritualist, some sat quietly on the grass overlooking the surf on Thursday, hands upturned on their laps within a last, short-lived patch of sunlight.<\/p>\n

Push the breath out. Let it in. Hold it.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Angus Dalton
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re buzzed with adrenaline, sore from filling sandbags, fanging for a coffee, prepared to the gritted teeth. But for residents of the Northern Rivers it\u2019s near impossible to imagine exactly what\u2019s coming. And other trials of life don\u2019t stop for a storm. As Cyclone Alfred spun over a hot Coral Sea last week, raging in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":835758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142672,25566],"tags":[142671,9982],"class_list":{"0":"post-835757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gritted","8":"category-teeth","9":"tag-gritted","10":"tag-teeth"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}