The "adrenaline and shock" of this week's flood emergency across northern New South Wales has given way to anger as cut-off communities become frustrated by a "sheer lack of planning" from authorities.
Murwillumbah local Sonia Caeiro said she felt far more frustrated now than she did following the 2017 floods.
"The sheer lack of services, infrastructure, the sheer lack of planning," she said.
"It was very much left to locals, like locals rescuing people … our Facebook page basically had people going 'can you please come and rescue me'."
Many still cut off
Ms Caeiro said "the adrenaline and the shock has given way to a resigned sort of pragmatism" as locals start the clean-up.
"The biggest problem we had as a town was no communication for four days," she said.
"Phones, internet: all down.
"No supplies, no food, no fuel."
Ms Caeiro said some vehicles "trickled through" to Murwillumbah on Thursday afternoon but "we still have no phone coverage, we have no eftpos".
"We have to use cash and there's no cash in the tele-machines," she said.
She said there was frustration among locals as authorities were warned ahead of time about the risk of life-threatening flooding.
"We need foresight from the government," she said.
"We need to do it now not when everyone forgets later."
Thousands without telecommunications
There have been outages for about 4,000 Telstra phone services and 6,000 NBN connections south from the Queensland border to the Clarence Valley.
Telstra's general manager for northern NSW Michael Marom said it was likely the largest outage in the area since the 2017 floods and including the bushfires in 2019–20.
"We do have particular focus and concern around what we call communities in isolation, where they're unable to make calls because not only is there no Telstra service but there's no NBN or other mobile providers," he said.
Mr Marom said repair crews are ready but that access to some areas is still restricted by damaged or flooded roads.
"It's a matter of working with emergency services to determine that an area is safe and as soon as it is we'll get crews in there," he said.
A spokesperson for Essential Energy said that as of Thursday evening, about 15,000 customers were without power across the Northern Rivers.
More police deployed
More than 100 additional police officers from metropolitan areas are being deployed across northern NSW today.
"These communities have faced some of the toughest times imaginable, but the stories of compassion and bravery from police, volunteers and entire communities rolling up their sleeves to pitch in have been incredible," Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole said.
"Rest assured we are throwing every resource at this evolving situation, and deploying these extra officers will make a huge difference on the ground, not only in the immediate response phase but also during the long road to recovery."
State Emergency Operations Controller, Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said more resources will be deployed "if required".
"I want everyone affected by this ongoing emergency to know we will support you in the coming weeks, months, and as long as it takes, to get you and your communities back on your feet."
