OPINION: We stay in a sunburnt nation, however how do you cope when the drought and flooding rains are so relentless that the sound of rain or the odor of a campfire ideas you over the sting?
Residents in and round Lismore within the NSW Northern Rivers had solely simply began cleansing up from devastating floods in February, when only a month later houses and companies went beneath once more.
The one bitter saving grace was that since many had already misplaced the whole lot; that they had nothing left to lose the second time round.
Ruined belongings had been both piled excessive on the newly inundated streets, or already on the tip.
It was again to the drafting board when the water subsided once more, hosing out the mud and the stench that the flood waters left behind.
Rebuilding these areas will take years, however there is no accounting for the way lengthy it'll take to rebuild lives.
Many won't ever absolutely get well from the impression on their psychological well being.
Rain and storms won't ever cease taking place.
Devastating floods will come once more, with extra frequency because of local weather change.
So how do you get well when nature itself is a set off in your worst fears?
These caught up within the floods have been telling of what they endured at a public inquiry underway to attempt to be taught from what went flawed, to contain the group within the rebuilding course of, and to make sure that errors aren't repeated sooner or later.
It has been harrowing however therapeutic for a lot of, understanding that they don't seem to be alone, and they're being heard.
However because the inquiry continued, the specter of flooding emerged but once more.
A rain bomb unleashed on south-east Queensland, flooding areas together with in and across the Lockyer Valley, the place greater than 30 folks had been killed within the 2011 floods.
Extra cities underwater. Extra flood survivors re-living their trauma but once more.
Northern NSW has fortunately escaped the worst of this climate, for now - however you do surprise, how far more can folks take?
It is the identical for bushfire survivors.
I used to be among the many 1000's of individuals caught up within the black summer season bushfires that tore by way of massive components of Australia's east and south-east in 2019-20.
I used to be compelled to flee with my household because the fires turned day into night time close to the place we had been holidaying within the small NSW South Coast village of Bendalong.
We escaped when roads reopened and headed additional south to Tathra - one other city that was nonetheless rebuilding after lethal bushfires only a yr earlier, in 2018.
The fires bore down there but once more too, forcing us to flee as soon as extra.
We lastly made it house to a smoke-choked Sydney, because the bushfires burned to the north, south and west.
It was terrifying - and all we needed to do was get out.
We did not lose a house, a enterprise or family members, and but the odor of a campfire is one thing I now not consider as comforting.
It brings again recollections of these bushfires, so I can solely think about what the set off of smoke or rain is like for individuals who have misplaced a lot in bushfires or floods.
We do stay in a sunburnt nation, with a lot magnificence and terror, and I would not need to stay anyplace else.
However my coronary heart goes out to these grappling with the pure disasters endured on this vast brown land.
Deborah Knight is a presenter on 2GB and 4BC, internet hosting Afternoons With Deborah Knight from 12-3pm, Monday to Friday.